I'm sitting outside at camp right now, the sun setting overhead, clouds in the sky (hoping it doesn't rain), and being thankful that it's not frigid. We've have a lot of frigid weather lately, so it's nice to have a weekend (or well, a day) where it's not cold.

Don't worry, it'll be cold again tomorrow. But for now, with the fire and a hoodie, I'm feeling pretty comfortable.

I am reminding myself: take a breath, nice and slow. Then do it again, and again, until the heart and brain are feeling closer to regulated. Enjoy the time off and stop thinking about the day job; it'll be back in my view soon enough. Too soon, if you ask me, but I know I'd regret taking more time off right now.

That's a really difficult concept: relaxing. Letting go. (Agh, no, now I have earwormed myself… let it go… let it go… SIGHS).

I was thinking about it earlier today, as I clocked out of the day job after having started exceedingly early so I could finish an hour ahead of time. I felt guilty stepping away from my desk. I didn't feel right, even though I'd put in my time and done as much as I could in a single day. I still have more to do.

I could walk into our trailer right now at camp and pull out the printouts I made at the end of the day and start sketching out the website I need to work on. I could. And a part of me wants to because I'm tired of having a project hanging over me.

But a much larger part of me knows that relaxation is important.

I'm burnt out. I've been burnt out for a long time (you all are aware; you've been reading my newsletters). My first-day-of-the-month Tarot pulls have been telling me this. I'm aware that being in fight-or-flight mode constantly means I'm burnt out and it isn't healthy.

Someday I will figure out how to move beyond that problem. For now, I simply keep moving forward to the best of my ability. It is continuing to mess with my creativity, however.

Side note: I am really wondering why my writing app is insisting on making the single quote backwards on my tablet. And if it'll fix itself when I go inside with my laptop. Like. WHY?? I can't find a way to get to the settings for the overall app, either, to see if it's something I can fix.

[Side side note: Switching to the laptop did not fix the weirdness with the single quotes. Sighs. Find and replace to the rescue…]

What I've been up to…

My brain is constantly coming up with blog ideas, and promptly forgetting them before I ever have time to put fingers to keyboard. Not that I've had time anyway; I'm working 10 hour days more often than not.

I relearned (yes, again) how to solder, and hopefully it sticks with me. Every time I sit down to work on jewelry, the first hour is spent with me cursing at everything because I cannot convince the solder to flow properly. Last weekend there were tiny little silver balls dropped everywhere. Whoops. But I did manage to finish soldering the silver earrings I had, and made one new pair, so those are ready to go for markets.

I need to buy gold and brass colored solder, and do the rest of the earrings I have already made. Or stitch markers. They work for either.

I did a lot of administrative things in September: submitted programming requests for a convention, queried another convention, applied to markets. My schedule is more set than it was, including some changes from the last time I sent it out.

I squeezed in what I could for the business, but it wasn't much.

I did attend the Guilderland Public Library local author day, and that was a lot of fun. I made some great contacts, and hope to see folks again. There's another one coming up right in my town in December, but it unfortunately conflicts with another market I've already applied to.

I also made some time for fun in the last month. We went to the Scottish Games over Labor Day weekend. We hosted my family out at our campsite for my mother's 85th birthday. And last weekend we went to the Big E and saw All Time Low at the end of the day. AWESOME concert, and worth the fact that we got absolutely drenched in the rain. We haven't seen them live in so, so long, and they remain one of my favorite bands.

What's coming up…

October is absolutely packed full.

We have to close down our seasonal campsite—tonight is one of our last nights out here this summer. We head home tomorrow, then we're back next weekend and that's when everything gets taken apart and packed away. This is both sad and kind of a relief; it'll be nice to be home again on the weekends.

That said, I won't be home much for October! I'm vending one day each weekend for the first three weekends (and then again on November 1st). I'm also going down to Rhinebeck Sheep & Wool for the other day of the third weekend, and we are doing a Trunk or Treat event the weekend after that. And Halloween? Is double-booked! We start the morning early with black belt testing at our dojang (I'm not testing for rank, but I'm very excited that we have several kids testing for their first black belt), then we'll spend the evening at our friend's house. 

So much for being home on the weekends, huh? November isn't looking much better! What is relaxation anyway?

Where will I be…?

As mentioned, I have a lot of markets!

October 4, 2026 - A Big Gay October Market, Albany NY

October 11, 2026 - Collar City Pride, Troy NY

October 17, 2026 - Schodack Island Festival, Schodack Island State Park, Schodack NY

November 1, 2026 - Altamont School Craft Fair in Altamont, NY

November 20-22, 2026 - Philcon, Cherry Hill NJ

December 12-13, 2026 - Christkindl Market, Stablegate in Castleton, NY (Applied)

And as always… if you're curious to see snippets as I work, all levels of my Patreon are treated to early chapters of PHU when it is posting, as well as behind-the-scenes looks at works in progress.

And find me on social media if you want to chit-chat or just hear me natter on about life, writing, and fandom. I'm tryslora everywhere!