The Motherlode Conference

I was going to write a long, gushing post about how excited I am to be a part of the upcoming Association for Research on Mothering's 20th anniversary "Motherlode" conference this fall, but I couldn't do a better, more succinct job than my bloggy friends have already done.

Five of us are going to be presenting a panel discussion on blogging and mothering, and you can bet I'll be asking you for your thoughts and opinions between now and the conference at the end of October. Here's the official scoop, as cut and pasted from Ann's blog:

Mama's Got a Brand New Blog: The Rise of the Weblog and its Impact on Mothering

• Mothering in the Age of Blog: Ann Douglas (author of The Mother of All Pregnancy Books)

• Welcome to My Sandbox: Danielle Donders (Communications Strategist) (that's me!)

• A Blog of One's Own: Marla Good (Freelance Writer)

• I've Been There, Too: Andrea McDowell (Editor, TheWholeMom.com)

• Tool of Revolution or Online Shrine to Parental Self-Absorption: Jen Lawrence (Creator, T.O Mama)

Ann will be doing a solo session on the history of the modern pregnancy book: Modern Pregnancy: Doing it By the Book.

A whole flock of other mom/writers/researchers will be heading to the conference -- Andi Buchanan, Amy Tiemann, Miriam Peskowitz, Faulkner Fox, to name just a few of the dozens of fascinating women who will be conference bound. I would encourage any mom who can make it to the Greater Toronto Area that weekend to block off these four days on her calendar now. This is the most exciting motherhood conference event ever. I am thrilled and honoured to be a part of it. Don't miss out. Grab a mom-friend and plan to make a date of this four-day celebration of everything mom. If you plan to attend the Motherlode Conference, you'll want to register soon. The registration deadline is September 12, 2006.

I'm so incredibly excited to be included in this group of smart, insightful, opinionated mothers. Excited, and humbled. And terrified. Yep. Definitely terrified.

But this means that I finally get to meet Marla and Jen in person, and I think I'm more excited about that than anything!