I hope everyone is doing well and safe!
It is time for another IWSG post. Thanks to Alex, we all get to meet once a month and share our insecurities. Please drop by his blog to sign up and JOIN OUR GROUP!
This month, in particular, has all of us living very different lives from a few months ago. Thankfully, I made it back to my home in NW IL. Staying safe at home here is much easier than it was in Orlando. Now living miles away from the Chicago crowds, I feel very safe in my little haven. People here understand the urgency to keep social distancing, YET, we still talk and share our daily lives. One can still social distance and have a comfortable social life. With the lovely warmer weather, I spend much of my time on my front porch. It is wonderful. The stress of the daily headlines still persist, but the anxiety I have felt for the past month has now subsided to a normal level. My advice is to spend as much time outdoors as you can. It is wonderfully therapeutic. My gardens are finally taking shape after hours and weeks of planting and replanting. I have forgotten how time-consuming gardening is, but it relieves so much tension and gets our bodies moving once more. My time in Florida was spent on a couch and watching TV twelve hours a day. Not good.
These trying times have also made my writing almost non-existent. I had done so well for a while, but this pandemic has stifled any creativity in me...until now. If you feel trapped and can't focus on your writing, DON'T feel bad or beat yourself up. Find another creative outlet...I found gardening. Eventually, you will get back to your writing because your stress and anxiety levels created by our troubled times will slowly dissipate.
Once I finish planting the remaining shrubs and trees, I will get back to writing. I actually did start re-reading my current WIP to get back into my story so that I can finally finish it. I also began reading my previous novel. It has been a few years and I decided it was time to start the query process again. This year I had purchased GRAMMERLY... it is a wonderful program to catch those pesky typos and other writing issues. So, I decided to download this work chapter-by-chapter... I was ASTONISHED how many typos it caught...I had five CP's edit it, as well as the twenty-plus times I had read through it. This program is totally worth the investment. I needed this. Try reading you previous works, it's working for me to forget the current situation for a while and write.
Stay well, my friends, and keep your loved ones close. Social media is very helpful in this department. If you feel overwhelmed, take a walk, even if it's just around the block. It will clear your mind.
We all have to try and keep our sense of humor and I am VERY GRATEFUL to all of you posting funny pics and anecdotes on Facebook. They are definitely helping me, and I am sure others, too.
Stay safe. Keep in touch. WE need each other.
Sending you all TONS OF VIRTUAL HUGS!
