A Word in Edgewise

A large part of why I come off awkward when in group settings is my inability to insert myself into a conversation.  This happens for a variety of reasons:

1. I don't have anything to say.
2. I didn't think of what to say fast enough.
3. I waited too long for a break in conversation and now the topic has shifted.
4. I'm too nervous to say anything at all (for fear of looking like an ass).
5. I don't know the group of people well enough.
6. I'm having a good time just listening.

Some of these sort of blend together, but I thought I'd list them separately because I felt it was warranted.

The biggest reason I don't contribute has recently shifted from being too nervous to not thinking of what to say fast enough or waiting too long to speak up.  Some months ago the reason was that I just didn't know anyone well enough to feel comfortable saying anything.
It doesn't help that I hang out with awesome, cultured, smart people now.  I used to feel intimidated.
Since having the wee one and steering my diet choices in a direction that pleases me I have more in common with them, so it's easier to contribute to a conversation.  Sometimes I feel childish because my contribution was just relating my own experience to the conversation; I didn't have anything new and interesting to add.

I suppose the entire root of my hesitation is being worried about perception.  I worry a lot about how others perceive me, especially if it's someone I know will be in my life for a long time, or someone I admire and would like to keep in my life for a long time.
My in-laws fall into this category.  I made a conscious decision to just relax a while ago (and I'm sort of being successful with this) and that has helped me a lot with communicating with them.  For a while there I was pretty nervous around them.  A lot of that was because I didn't know them very well, but a good portion of it was also that they're awesome people.  They're also different than anyone else I know, which is sort of a dumb statement considering that everyone is different.  What I mean is that most of the people I know and knew before meeting hubby had very similar interests like video games and anime.  We didn't talk about much else really.  My in-laws are very down to earth people and they've been doing what I wanted to be doing with my life for a long time.
Meeting them convinced me further that hubby was the man I wanted to spend my life with.  I would have married him regardless of in-law awesomeness I think, but it helps that I felt like I wanted to raise our family in his family...if that made any sense.

I digress.
My point is, the more I feel is at stake with the people I'm conversing with, the less I tend to say.  Which is sort of shooting myself in the foot because it has happened before that those people took my quietness as aloofness.  I've been told that someone thought that I put myself above everyone else, which can't be farther from the truth.

[EDIT]
I don't mean to imply that my old friends are any less awesome than my new friends, because that's not true.  I meant to say that my interests (and myself) have changed a lot since I've been pregnant and I have more in common with those I've met recently, generally speaking.
[/EDIT]