Chicken of posting this from my phone

It is Wednesday, and here we are.

A breath for Wednesday. Please forgive any hilarious or unfortunate autocarrot errors.

Ta-Da!

Oof. I finished a good draft of St Lawrence's Tears and sent it off. I had a really good idea about how to execute the St Cecilia commission, which is important because that's needed very soon now. I sang Sacred Harp stuff all day on Saturday and felt better for it. I did some work in a pub and didn't feel better for it. I did some avoidance-reading and gleaned wisdom from it which I was able to apply, though really it's all part of the Big Journey of How To Love, which means ... I get to keep experimenting with wisdom. I did some rehearsal preparation. I did partial rough drafts of a few more pieces.

The Good

Singing singing singing. I have asthma, and I literally breathe more easily when I sing a lot.

Despite Crunchy Deadlines (good with ketchup!) I didn't completely neglect self-care. It's so easy for me to decide that deadlines are more important than giving myself adequate nutrition or time to think or time and space to move. It's so easy for me to hyperfocus on a task and neglect things like dental care or Bed Before Midnight. And this time, I chose differently and I think I was even just as productive, to be honest. A breath for self-care. A breath for not punishing the perishing meatsack more than necessary.

I led sung Compline with Exposition of the Blessed Sacrament in my old parish, and I didn't drop the Sacrament or break the monstrance or anything like that. It was good.

I got my hour of sleep back from the government (DST ended). I always like this, because I harbour much resentment toward DST.

My knee is healing well.

Visit Cat has remembered that I have a lap, and has been very affectionate when visiting. (He doesn't live at our house, he lives a few doors down, but he thinks it's his right to visit us for scritches and cuddles whenever he feels like it, and who are we to argue?)

The Hard

I didn't meet all the deadlines.

There's a sort of grieving process in writing a draft of something and then realising it just isn't going to get done. It's hardest when the competition uses a set text that is not in the public domain; I try to avoid those unless they're either amazing or easy. But the more deadlines I entertain, the more pieces I can't finish, and knowing what the next month is like I expect I won't even finish the public domain ones for awhile, and that is just... hard.

Gleaning wisdom from books is hard, too: reading descriptions of painful things I have experienced and perhaps not yet healed from triggers sadness, anxiety, grief. I'm glad I did it, but it was hard.

My lower back has been giving me grief. Not sure why, suspect not enough stretching.

Quests

St Cecilia commission, lots of Cecilia's List stuff, St Luke's Chelsea and Stephen Paulus competitions, schedule dental and optometry appointments (keep the meatsack ticking over), LGQ prep stuff, Whittington responses, type up book outline.

PLN

I'm arranging for some in-person support with admin tasks.

Today is All Saints' Day, and tomorrow is All Souls'; I will be remembering my dead, and trying to be as gentle with myself as some of them might be if they were here.

I feel very tired, so I think an early-ish night tonight and a very early one tomorrow night will be helpful.

How are you?

How was your week? What are your Quests? What was good? Hard? Do you have a PLN? Do you have a pet?