Today my mom came by with cinnamon buns and an offer to play with Isak for a few of hours while I worked on this (which I’ve been beating myself up about). I really appreciated it, it gave me a chance to get my head clear.

I’ve decided to take off the personal pressure to have a stack of books at my side, wrapped, bowed and ready to go by Christmas. It would be so nice and I’ll still try, but this is supposed to be about sharing scattered pieces of joy (things I find beautiful, words I’m happy with), so I want to put them together in that head-space, not one where I’m flogging myself to get it done in time, sweating deadlines, threatening postmen.

Just deciding this has made it less of a chore and freed something up for me – things are flowing better, I’ve been happily adding/deleting/playing again.

I’ve been too thinky lately. I had several ideas squashed together, when it makes more sense to channel them into several different books, not force everything into a single overly congested one. It doesn’t have to be perfect, and I really feel that I need to enjoy the process.

And there’s nothing wrong with epiphany presents.