Farmer's Market Glow and the Nag of Second Guessing

SUGAR made it's debut at the St. Stephen Farmer's Market on Friday and sold out (except a couple scones)! The market was heaving with people celebrating our little town's annual Chocolate Festival. The bread was a big hit, as were the chocolate chip cookies, cinnamon twists and galettes. The scones fared well and the cupcakes sold just seconds before they were a melted mess. It couldn't have been a better start to SUGAR's local exposure. I was beaming for most of the day.

But then the little nagging voice creeps in, the pebble-in-my-shoe voice that second guesses everything. What if they didn't like the bread? What if I can't pull this off? What if no one buys anything next week? I'd like that voice to"if-off" quite frankly. I'd like to say it doesn't affect me, but tonight was an off-night for baking. I burnt pastry, over-floured bread dough, planned to make things with ingredients I didn't have...most likely because of this pebble in my shoe throwing me off my game. A practical person would tell me to shake out my shoe, and really I should just do it. But I sometimes think this pebble is my friend, goading me on to strive to do better. Then again, would a friend give me blisters? (Have I carried this analogy too far?)

So tonight, at this very late hour I am shaking out my shoes. I simply have no room for pebbles right now. At least one person is coming for my bread on Friday and even if that's the only thing I sell I want to be sure it was baked with all the joy and delight I get from baking with an unfettered mind...and very comfortable shoes.