No new patrons this week, but a big heartfelt jolly dance for existing patrons. You mean the world to me. Thank you for believing in me and in the podcast. This podcast is sponsored by our patrons at Patreon.com/valerieihsan. For as low as a $1/mo, you can get a shout out on the podcast and we can make announcements for you on the podcast. At other tiers, the benefits increase--free books, accountability Zoom calls, scene analysis, mastermind calls, and even free Writer Craft retreat tickets. Become a patron of the arts at Patreon.com/valerieihsan.    I'M READING: The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki and listening to The Mountains We Carry by Zaid Brifkani.  Up Next: It's too early to start thinking of the next book. Though Magic for Beginners by Kelly Link, How to Be a Good Creature by Sy Montgomery, and A Prayer for the Crown-Shy by Becky Chambers are all contenders at the present moment. Announcements: Erick's new book, Chasing Shadows, is out now!  Passion Planner is launching their new line of annual dated planners for 2023 tomorrow, August 25 at 9:00 a.m. Pacific Time. I've already got mine picked out! I've been using my planner more and more to take the edge off my stress. Playing with stickers and markers in my planner gives me a wee bit of creative time each week that is separate from my Book Making Time. USE MY DISCOUNT CODE: VALERIEO866 Writer Craft Writing Retreat is scheduled for next August 24-27, 2023. Tickets are $900 this year and include all lodging and gourmet meals, plus instruction and coaching and retreat time on the river, in Marcola, OR. Payment plans are available, and registration opens November 1st, 2022. Patrons receive a hefty discount AND can buy early, making their monthly payments even less expensive. Go to valerieihsan.com/retreat for more information.   Show Notes: What's your one thing for the month of September? Here's what I learned about accountability groups years ago.  They're awesome. And here's why: I have some mutated Wonder Woman glitch in my brain that makes me volunteer for jobs or writing projects or helping friends out at a rate that would stagger a cheetah. And it ends badly. I'm either stressed out so much that I start eating my weight in potato chips and chocolate bars (sometimes candy by the bag), crying, or I abandon everything. Jump ship and sleep. My sign that depression is looming. Overwhelm = Depression in my body and mind and spirit, so I need to be on guard. Which is difficult when my default setting is, "How hard could it be?" So, accountability groups. The biggest take-away from my group was this: If you have too much on your list, none of it gets done. Bam. I remember hearing, Three things. That's all you can do. If you get those three things done and you have time and energy left, great. Do more. But you can only pick three things to focus on this week. And I'd cry. In Barnes and Noble's Starbucks cafe. Cry because I could only choose three things to focus on when I KNEW in my cells I had 84 things to do. I remember hearing, I think you should not put anything else on your plate unless your house sells. And crying in Springfield's Public House because I couldn't bear the thought of not working forward on my dreams while I did this other humungous thing--fixing up and selling my rental house. I hate being told that I need to prioritize. I despise the perceived weakness in not being able to do it all. Sure, yes. Set a pomodoro timer for 25 minutes and focus on one thing at a time, but can't I do that 84 times? No. I'm too scattered. It's never the quality Deep Work that Cal Newport talks about, or The One Thing that Gary Keller writes about. And it's certainly not the Way of Essentialism that Greg McKeown talks about. Have you read this book? Here's a taste: (read pg. 7 with accompanying illustration). Scattershot and spaghetti on the walls do not get things done. And you're perpetually in Putting out Fires mode. At the end of the day, answering your ema