This has been such a crammed week: so much editing tangle, plus Poetry Kitchen/book launch prep, plus dealing with my car, dealing with firewood, squeezing in a moment to get vaccine boosters, plus whipping up meals and going out in the evenings--yesterday to a movie, tonight to write. But at least here in the little northern city by the sea, I can walk the mile to fetch my car from the body shop, walk the half-mile to get vaccinated. In backwoods Harmony such chores would swallow entire days.

But today is all about housework, so I'll step away from the desk, at least for a little while, and give my stressed eyes some relief. All that flickering screen work really takes a toll. It will be a vacation to wash some floors instead.

I hadn't expected these book launches to be so labor-intensive, but getting ready for them has been absorbing quite a bit of time--especially the zoom one, because Jeannie and I are planning to spend the final third of the hour in conversation about one another's books, which means I've been hammering out discussion questions and book descriptions in the midst of all of my other desk tasks. Have you ever tried to write a long paragraph about your own book? It's not so easy. And I haven't even begun to prep for next week's Monson class yet. Oy.

In a way, I was hoping these vaccines might make me comfortably ill so that I could loll on the couch without guilt. However, so far I feel perfectly fine. Kind of a disappointment, really.

Still, here I am, getting paid (sometimes) to do (mostly) interesting stuff. And I don't have to rush out of the house and catch a bus or anything. And my car should now pass inspection. And stacking firewood is more fun than boring exercises on my mat. And I get to go out write tonight with my friends. And I'm actually very happy about how my new book looks and reads. And it's October, and the the light in the maples is heart-soaring.