By Linda O. Johnston
Apologies. I’m late with this blog. But… well, as I’m sure all of you reading this know, life is different now from what it’s been.
The pandemic. Potential danger to all of us. Lots to learn about how to protect ourselves. Staying home most of the time–and only going out to buy essentials or bring in take-home food… occasionally.
What’s good about it? Well, for writers, our lives may not have to change as much as other people’s. We’re often home a lot anyway, staring at our computers and hopefully being productive on them.
But… well, for me, some of the changes include not getting together with other people for exercise classes. Or attending writers’ group meetings–which now have been canceled. Or even considering attending writers’ conferences, which are also mostly canceled anyway.
And then there were a couple of trips with family that we’ve had to cancel.
I am walking our dogs more than before, which they enjoy–though of course staying more than six feet away from also-walking neighbors. Our pups also enjoy having my husband and me around nearly all the time, to give them even more attention and treats.
So yes, that part is good. But considering how things will progress, when this might end, the situation regarding nearly the entire world… we’re upside down.
And then there’s this blog. Being late didn’t help, but my mind obviously is on other things. And though yes, I’m editing some stories I’ve been working on and plotting more–and my mind is also roiling around possible scenarios in which I can include this horrible situation in a book–things are different enough that I’m clearly not planning or focusing as I should be.
I’d like to be focusing here on an aspect of writing. That’s what we often do on the Writers in Residence blog. And in a way, I am. I’m suggesting that writers can do their job no matter what’s going on around them. Focus on fiction, perhaps, to help your mind deal with the difficult facts.
I’m suggesting that writers can do their job no matter what’s going on around them. Focus on fiction, perhaps, to help your mind deal with the difficult facts.
Perhaps the hardest thing for me is not seeing family. We have a son in our area but not right next door, and for now I’ve told him not to visit, at least for a while.
What’s the hardest thing for you? What kind of fiction are you focusing on to help you through this?
How are you upside down?
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