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So I just had the "I can't work for you anymore" conversation with the client I don't want to work for any more.  Actually, I told her the truth: my two big clients got bigger this fall, and between work for them and other freelancing, I truly can't work for her: don't have the time and don't need the money, except I left the money part out.  I also left out the part about how working for her has driven me kind of crazy (in a small-job-you-don't-have-to-worry-so-much-about-except-for-when-you-do sort of way).

Here's the part I wasn't expecting: she said I was the best person they'd ever had in the job, and she thought it was a perfect fit.  She also said she understood, and I said I would help them out till they found someone else, which I'd always planned to do.

Then I hung up the phone and felt really bad about the whole thing, especially me thinking she wasn't happy with me, and the implications for my whole self-esteem thing and all that.

Then S pointed out that she needed to learn how to give positive feedback.  And I was all, yeah, maybe it's not my problem after all...