Fake it til you make it

I just spent a marvelous couple of days at the Zermatt Resort in Midway, UT attending Utah Valley University's
"For the Love of Reading" literacy conference.  The presenters were amazing and inspiring.  I learned so much and came away with a renewed resolve to make sure my kids read, read, and read some more.  And that they have access to loads of great books.

I also presented at the conference.  And here's the thing.  My presentation was one of 4 breakout sessions in the very last time slot of the two-day conference.  Meaning I had two days and several presentations to become increasingly nervous and feel less and less qualified to be there in any capacity besides an attendee.

But I reminded myself how much time I had spent preparing and how many fabulous ideas and stories and resources I had gathered.  I told myself that I'm just a mom who loves books and my kids (not even in that order) -- not much different from any other mom there.   Besides, it was too late to be a no-show.

So I did it.

I saw people taking lots of notes, laughing and crying.

I received positive feedback.

Whew.

*** I am still working on figuring out how best to share the list -- the following  Google Docs idea isn't yet working *** I'll figure it out & let you know.

IN THE MEANTIME, EMAIL ME OR REPLY TO THIS POST WITH YOUR EMAIL ADDRESS IF YOU'D LIKE A COPY RIGHT AWAY!

Here's a link to the BOOKS WE ADORE (it's on Google Docs, meaning you'll need a gmail account to access it) list I compiled (thanks to many of you).  It's a work in progress.  Feel free to send titles you feel should be on the list but aren't.  If you've sent titles that aren't yet on the list, it's because I haven't yet had time to get them all on there.

Fake it til you make it, I tell my kids.  Turns out it's pretty good advice.