The Pandemic Writer: Coffee and Isolation

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The Pandemic Writer

My world is strange. In some ways I am quite happy to work remotely from home. Yes, most of us authors have regular day jobs. It is bliss not to deal with traffic commutes to and from work, to not dress up, put on mascara which smudges by noon. It is disturbing when you turn on the news and the grief and chaos exploding from Covid, job losses and economics woes, politics, people being idiots (by not wearing masks/refusing to believe in deadly virus).

You feel like you are among the mad!


On one hand, I have had more free time to write. On the other, I have not written much as I would have liked. Let's be honest. The world is scary. My first six months of working from home involved lots of chocolate and a pot of coffee a day as I stressed over potential job furloughs (I have been lucky so far), empty toilet paper shelves in store, and working out to exercise DVDs keep a sane routine. I like workout videos because there is no virus threat and I can look stupid without witnesses as I dance around the apartment. 

Discipline is the hardest thing for a writer to hone. When faced with editing or writing a chapter, we make an excuse and clean the house or reorganize the wriitng desk. Let's face it....most days my vacuum cleaner just feels like a neglected housewife. I must buck up. Write! finish those books! Edit! Have a piece of work I can harrass agents and publishers with. If I intend to be the next Princess Royal of Heroic Fantasy, I need to work for it.




I am hoping 2021 will be better. I am alreayd a crazy writer. The rest of the world needs to reboot. We all have stress. But I would like a return to normal stress and not feeling like an extra in a post-apocalyptic plague movie with B actors . I am working. I am writing.Maybe that is all we can hope for. Let's hope for more vaccinations (am still waiting) and an end to this wretched virus.

So let's reboot ourselves in this insane pandemis world and conquer a few goals. What do you think? What are your plans for 2021? 

Stay well & feisty,

Verna McKinnon

















 



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