Poetry Reading Tonight!

Hi everyone! First I have to ask you to excuse my blog for morphing lately.  It may continue to morph till I really love how it looks.  Anyone who has tips for personalizing or knows of sites to find templates and things at, please share.  But that's not why I'm writing today. 
I'm going to be reading at a poetry reading tonight!  I've known about it for a couple months and was really nervous for a while.  I'm just excited now.  I've never done anything like this.  The most public I get with my writing is here on my blog.  I have to say this outlet has given me a bit more confidence as a writer and also given me a very different approach.  I've started really working at writing lately in ways I had not considered before.  I edit things sometimes, (yes, that's a big deal to me), and they're better for it.  I used to call a poem done once I ran out of words.  Now I know I can often come back to a piece and find more to add or remove things that don't fit.  I'm also slowly learning to write when I decide to, not only when inspiration hits- because if I coax it a bit, I tend to have more to work with.  I compulsively write down every little thing that strolls across my brain because I know that if I let it get away, fewer things will come.  It just occurred to me to wonder how I know the difference between the errant thoughts that stumble around in there and the things that want to be written down.  It seems to come in a different voice.  How do you experience this?  How do you see yourself growing or changing as a writer, or in any other endeavor in your life?