The Monday “What have you done lately?” accountability post, where I announce my program promotion goal for the week and fess up on last week’s goal.

Last week, my goal was to contact EGA and ANG about the Needle and Thread: Stitching for Literacy program and annual Bookmark Challenge.

Done. As of moments ago. No kidding. Y’all are my accountability tool, and I can’t do it without you. Did you know that just by reading this blog you’re helping me promote the Stitching for Literacy program? Surprise! I see you coming to read the blog (stats program), and that motivates me. (Thanks for that, by the way.)

So, I did it. I contacted EGA and ANG. Yay!

And that’s not all that happened in the past week. Turns out it was a big week.

First, Jen Robinson mentioned the program on her blog. Jen and her blog are in the thick of the super-active and far reaching Kidlitosphere. To have someone in that group help promote the program is a boon. Many thanks to Jen.

Next, an article about the program written by Margriet Ruurs was published in the Oct/Nov 2008 issue of Reading Today, a publication of the International Reading Association. The newspaper has 80,000 subscribers and is read by 150,000 librarians and teachers worldwide.

If you’d like to arrange a program in your area, now is a great time to contact your local library or school. Someone there might have read the article and be ready to discuss ideas.

Paige and Zoe live across the street. They’re spending a couple of days with me. Zoe’s never been keen on me when she sees me. She’s adjusted.

So what’s next?

This week I want to contact someone at the Children’s Book Council. I unilaterally attached the Bookmark Challenge to Children’s Book Week. It seemed like a good time to donate bookmarks to libraries. As far as I know, no one at the CBC knows about the program. I figure they should at least know. If they can help promote the Stitching for Literacy program, all the better, but as a nonprofit, they may be limited in what they can do. It doesn’t matter. I just want folks there to know we’re doing this, so this week I will try to figure out who to contact and then send that person a letter.

Who else should I be contacting? And what else can I be doing? Previous suggestions have been noted and are on the list.

Last year, someone suggested I contact Laura Bush because she’s a librarian and all that. Well, guess what, I did. I got a nice note from one of Mrs. Bush’s staff encouraging me to continue working locally to promote literacy.

Someone else suggested I contact Oprah. Uh-huh. Well, I did. Or…well…I sent communication in that direction; I’m fairly certain it never actually reached Oprah.

Seriously, folks. I’ll try just about anything. I always say, “What’s the point of dreaming small?” and I try to live accordingly. Bring on the ideas.