Writing In The Time of Covid

I’m not sure if I’ve spoken much about my “writing break” in this space, but like we hear with Covid-19 jargon, I think I flattened the curve of writers block-itis and am on the downside of the peak.

When I finished writing my last novel in the summer of 2019 (“Thursday Afternoons” by Bella Books), I hung up my keyboard for an indeterminate amount of time. The old “TBA” as to when I would start writing fiction again. I just…lost it. The drive, the inspiration, the energy. I felt like I still knew how to write; it was more a matter of feeling I had nothing to say.

I didn’t rush myself. I didn’t fall into the temptation (trap?) of writing for the sake of selling a new book. I didn’t panic that if I didn’t start writing again soon, I might lose my ability to write (or at least take major steps backwards). I decided to simply ride it out, and in the process, enjoy other people’s work. Admittedly though, there were days I got pretty bored when I would normally be writing.

Then Covid-19 hit and there went everything as we knew it. I was sort of glad I didn’t have a novel on the go, because my concentration was zero and my anxiety was at DEFCON 2. This wasn’t the time to write, no sir, not when the wildest dystopian novel was unspooling in real time.

And then a funny thing happened. I did start writing again. I had so many feelings, so many thoughts, that I was going to explode if I didn’t start writing. And what better time, I thought, to write a novel when we can draw on what we’re all going through right now, when history in real time is grabbing us by the throats. What it ultimately comes down to is this: when the shit hits the fan, writers gonna write. That’s what we do in spectacular times. We write. We record. We live it so that others who read our work months or years later will understand what it was really like.

I’ve written fiction about other notable times in history, after much research. But to actually live through such a remarkable time, let me tell you, it ain’t the same as research. Research can’t help you truly know what it feels like to worry you don’t have enough food on hand, to worry that a seemingly trivial health issue is suddenly a fricking disaster because you can’t get it treated. Or the worry you have about others you love, the stress you feel over when and how it’s all going to end. Those things don’t get translated accurately through research.

What we’re living through now, with this pandemic, is truly a treasure trove of material we can all draw from as writers. And my advice is this: write about what you (and others) are FEELING while all this is going on. How do you feel about each new development with Covid-19? How do you feel when you wake up in the morning? Don’t worry about numbers and logistics…you can get those down the road with, yes, research. The feelings and the small everyday things that aren’t there anymore…that’s what we need to write about.

So ride it out as best you can. Write if that helps. Read more books if that helps. Go for a walk, watch some silly movie on television and lose yourself. Oh and if all else fails, play this Dictionary game with family or friends on Zoom (see photo).