Do you do that thing where you add last minute items to your to-do list just to cross it off? Just to feel like you’re making progress? It’s been that sort of week for me.

So here I am, bribing myself with chocolate chips, to write to you about book art and changing the title. It’s not that I don’t want to talk to ya’ll, it’s just somedays I don’t know what to say.

I’m feeling a sharp juxtaposition most of the time now. The ugly and the beautiful. My life is pretty good but a lot of things going on around me are not. Scary headlines, scary times.

This weekend we took a family trip to the zoo. We shared some nice moments by the unassuming prairie dog exhibit. While we were agreeing the prairie dogs are adorably clumsy runners, a man on the walkway above us walked by yelling into his phone. Two minutes later, he walked by in the opposite direction still yelling.

But this time he was carrying a small child and yelling at a woman. Presumably, the child was his daughter and the woman was his partner. He repeatedly called the woman names and every time she tried to calmly answer him he told her to shut up. She kept walking with him anyway. Most people around us looked away or ignored the whole episode.

I couldn’t help that woman or that child. No one around us could. It feels easier to ignore the problem in the moment. But the whole episode left me feeling off-balance. They teach you in whitewater kayaking to lean toward to your difficulties. If your boat hits a rock and you lean away, you pull your center of gravity off-balance.

I couldn’t help that woman or that child. But within our family we talk about what a healthy relationship means. And if someone I’m close to describes verbal abuse without naming it, I’ll name it. I’m leaning toward the rock, as best I can.

So. Book news. (How’s that for a graceful transition?) I’m excited to be working with two talented artists, @gargoyle.pastures and @empyranni_illustrates on Instagram, to illustrate a couple scenes in the book.

I’ve never been completely happy with the book title “Delusions of Sainthood.” And I’ve finally come up with one I like - “Liar, Cheater, Sinner, Saint.” Prolly means designing a new book cover. More things for that to-do list.

Watch for the finished art pages, the book cover and the publication date. Monthly updates will be posted here. Day-to-day smaller updates are posted on Bluesky, Instagram, or Mastodon.

p.s. Currently slowly working through “Reading the Rocks” by Marcia Bjornerud. It’s a lovely, dense book full of scientific and moral lessons.