The job ended up being a pleasant sort of nightmare, whittling down almost 200 submissions for 20 or so spots on the dais at BlogHer next week. (The final list of readers is now here.)
"Nightmare" because of the juggling involved. I know so many people who write very well but who couldn't be included for one reason or another having to do with fairness and balance and other things the community-minded conference mistresses value, and rightly so.
"Pleasant" because even though it was excruciating to lop good writers off the list, I'm delighted about the ones who remain, and I was thrilled that through this process I discovered some bloggers I'd never read before, which it turns out is the whole bloody point of this event, introducing the audience to voices they may not have heard. Who knew!
Now, if you'll excuse me, I need to go figure out which skirt I'm going to wear for the reading, the colorful, stiff, peasant-y one or the tweedy pink pencil number. Or both! And five pairs of shoes, dangling from every appendage! To overcompensate for saying no to so many people, I will now shout yes to everything in my closet.