Threw my hat into the ring at my Toastmaster club's spring contest this morning and came away a winner in both Evaluation and International Speech. I feel pretty secure in evaluation, but know my speech needs a lot of work before I go to the area contest at the end of the month. I was struggling with writing, not exactly a block. No matter what I started drafting, I found myself trying to turn it towards politics and the financial crisis. I'm not surprised that those issues are so much in the forefront of my thoughts, but I am surprised at how much anger I felt. I didn't want the speech to turn into an ill-informed rant and I fear I just forced some ideas into a speech framework without nearly the support they needed. I will have to spend a lot of time filling in the details, sharpening the argument, and refining the delivery. It's work I will enjoy.