I had several challenges this week and I have to say that I realise I have matured in my approach. I think few family members may disagree, as I was rather snappy during the week. But perhaps some context is necessary. This week my computer died. Just died, for no apparent reason. I had one child vomit all over the bookstore floor and after getting through his stomach bug, my middle child followed suit yesterday morning at 01H11. Amidst it all, I had to get over 40 authors processed for the upcoming book fair this weekend and considering that only half of them applied to be part of the event through the official channel; I had to play detective to find all their details. My nine-year-old decided this was the week to wage war on us and I got the ceremonial “I hate you, I wish you never existed,” routine. Making sure that I also do some of my own marketing has been quite a challenge. But here I am writing this newsletter and my children are still alive and a very nice lady at Matrix in K...

 Tensions have been high at home this week. I had several deadlines to meet and things felt a little overwhelming. I was struggling to manage my time, and I wondered which goals should be taken care of first. I am due to leave for Port Elizabeth, which is now called Gqeberha to visit my parents. But I remembered an experiment that one of my lecturers at my tertiary education did for us.  He placed a large glass jar, some large stones, and sand on the table. The task was to fit all the stones and sand into the jar. He first started with the sand and then followed with the stones. Unfortunately, not all the stones could fit into the jar. Then he emptied out everything and this time he started with the stones. When he poured the sand in, it all sifted through the gaps in the stone and every last bit of the sand found space in the jar. You may have already heard of this experiment, but sometimes we all have to be reminded of the simplest messages.  My friend Daleen reminded m...