Progress During a Pandemic
Dear Maggie,
I’ve been distracted and not very productive in many areas of my life since COVID began. Has the pandemic impacted your writing? How are you managing?
Sincerely,
Worried in Wichita
Dear Worried,
Thank you for the question. The short answer is, yes the pandemic has impacted my writing, but not necessarily the content, per se. I will likely include mention of COVID in my stories once this experience is in our rearview mirror, similar to how references to 9/11 have been incorporated into many contemporary books. But, the other side of your question is how the pandemic has affected my ability to write and be productive, and that has a more complicated answer.
I have many writer friends, and we actually talk a lot about this. We all feel like we should be super productive. After all, Isaac Newton invented calculus while in quarantine during the Great Plague of London. If he could accomplish something so monumental, we should at least be able to crank out a manuscript or two. Well, that’s not exactly been my experience.
Most of us on planet Earth have had to simplify and take refuge in our homes for extended periods during the last nine months. Our regular lives are on hold, and many of the things that used to fill our days are off limits. We’re living in one prolonged moment of pause. This extra time could present us artistic types with an opportunity, an opportunity to focus on creative things if we are so inclined. But, is that what’s really happening?
This pandemic isn’t like attending a writer’s retreat, where we’ve purposely cleared our calendars and removed ourselves to some peaceful cabin on a lake in order to get our creative juices flowing or finish up a manuscript on deadline. Nope. We’re mostly at home worried about our families, our finances, about the possibility of getting sick. The longer the pandemic lasts, the more we’ve adapted, but it still doesn’t feel normal.
So, even though it seems like I should have extra time to write, I’m not always in the frame of mind to use it.
Here’s what I’ve been trying to do. I’ve been aiming for a balance between setting a schedule that accomplishes something and being gentle with myself. I don’t want to tip too far into non-functional, because that’s a hard pit to crawl out of, and this pandemic has been going on too long for me to use it as a blanket excuse for my lack of productivity. Still, it’s easy to spiral into my own head, or circle the drain, as I like to call it, when I don’t have access to the things that keep my head in a good space. For me, most of those things are socially driven, so I’m giving myself permission to breathe through the bad days guilt free. But, I’m also coaxing myself to set modest fitness, mental health, and work goals. They are not yet as aggressive as the ones I had pre-Covid, but they still encourage forward progress.
This is a strange and scary time for us all. I don’t think we should put pressure on ourselves, but at the same time, we will emerge from our cocoons and reenter the light at some point, so we don’t want to lose ourselves in the dark.
In other news…
Save the date! The RI Author Expo is going virtual this year. On December 5 from 10 am - 4 pm, we will have a fantastic line-up of FREE panels, programs, and virtual author meet and greets. We’re using the Grenadine platform and it would be best to register ahead of time so you can plan your day. On the day of the event, live links will be available for every program. Check it out here: RI Virtual Expo. Click the blue button on the top navigation bar to register for the event.
Here’s my schedule for the day:
Tabitha’s Kaffeeklatsch (meet and greet) 10:00 - 10:45 am
Not Your Mama’s Romance (panel) - 11:00 - 11:45 am
Kick Your Scene into Action (presentation) 12:00 - 12:45 pm
So, You Want to Write a Series? (panel) 2:00 - 2:45 pm
A Hero, an Anti-hero, and a Villain Walk into a Bar… (panel) 3:00 - 3:45 pm
Hope to see you there!
Do you have a question for me? Send it to maggie@msmaggieclare.com, and I’ll answer it here on the blog!
