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Courtney Carter of The Writing Desk blog recently arranged a group guest post where writers shared their creative experience during COVID in 2020. Thanks to Courtney for the invitation to join so many other writers! I’m still reading all of the submissions. It’s comforting to hear about other writers’ lives during this time, but there’s something about reading them one after another that really makes me feel a deeper connection to our writing community when so many of the ways we connect (open mics, workshops, etc.) have been suspended.
Here’s the beginning of my guest post. Follow the link at the end to read the rest and all the guest contributors’ work.
What’s essential?
When the stay-at-home ordered happened in North Carolina in March 2020, my writing also followed a stay-at-home order. That’s when I was reminded that my writing and I live in different homes. My time and energy last spring funneled into health, wellness, and family. Fitness and nutrition have always been important to me, and with my membership at the Y on hold I had turned my creative thoughts to workouts I could do at home or outside when the weather allowed. Other than doing what I needed to do professionally, taking care of myself, and making grocery and farmers’ markets visits efficient for two households (my husband and I, and his health-compromised parents), writing became—if we want to use modern vernacular—non-essential.
Stopped writing
The feelings of fear and uncertainty changed my perspective, and I knew that it was changing everyone else’s perspective too. Knowing that made me silent. I stopped posting on my writing blog. I stopped sending my newsletter. Things that had been routine in my writing home were no longer there, and large parts of my home life were lost…
