Less than a week to my Balisage 2026 presentation, as I write this. It will be my last full Balisage presentation ever — I’ll give a shorter one later that same day, for the Open Mic session — and right now, I am dreading it. First of all, I’m not done with the slides. I’m not done rehearsing. I never am at this stage, but that’s not it. This one needs to be good, see, better than anything before it. I’m terrified.

Wondering if my peers are feeling the same.