Write On, with Confidence and Hope Through All Crises

Suggestions for writing in the time of a pandemic

The Story Writer’s Path

Suggestions for writing in the time of a pandemic

Photo by Leio McLaren (@leiomclaren) on Unsplash

I’m in quarantine.

Early last Friday morning, I arrived home from France. With four other writers, I’d been staying in Ceret, a small town nestled in the Pyrenees near the Spanish border. We arrived at the beginning of March and intended to stay until the end of it. We were there for a writing retreat, all of us with big plans to finish projects and get a lot of work done.

But history intervened. Big time. The first week was relatively peaceful. We wrote and enjoyed the ambience of the town. By the second week, we started to get alarmed about the coronavirus’s effect on, well, everything. It became more difficult to focus on the writing. By the beginning of the third week, as France went into lockdown and flights got scarce, we decided it was time to try to head for home. (Huge shout out to our travel agent, who got us out at the exact right time — after the mad chaos in the airports when Trump first limited European flights and before all flights were canceled.) It was a long journey, with uncertainty at every step. (Will the trains be running? Will the hotel be open? Will the flight actually go? Will we pass the health screening at the airport?) But we made it. And I’m now quarantined with two others from the trip.

I’m one of the lucky ones. I’m apart from my family, yes, but they live nearby and can walk over. We yell at each other from porch to sidewalk while maintaining strict social distancing. Nobody that I know has gotten sick from covid-19, knock wood. I’ve got the money and the means to order copious amounts of wine and food from Whole Foods and Fred Meyer.

And I have plenty of time to write. And read. And knit. And take walks (carefully crossing the street when I see somebody else coming the other way).

Yet having plenty of time to write and create doesn’t necessarily mean I’ve done it. We made valiant efforts to keep up our writing the last week we were in Ceret, but the constant worry about whether to stay or go put a damper on that. And since we’ve been home, there’s been the constant distraction of following the news.

But now that I’ve settled in for the long haul, I’m starting to get my writing chops back. And I have a few ideas on how you can, too. I’ll start with focus, because if you can’t focus you won’t be able to write, move onto writing, and then end with some suggestions on how to unwind. Because, yes, self care is crucial right now.

Keep Going Back to Your Writing
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Suggestions to help you focus

Allow time for your distraction

Most people are recommending you stay away from news and social media, and I agree. But. I know for myself if I’m desperately wondering what’s going on and forcing myself not to check I won’t get any writing done. So give yourself a certain amount of time to check the news each day. But then switch it off at the allotted moment. (Most of the news is on constant repeat, with occasional actual breaking news sprinkled in periodically. This was brought home to me while I sat at the departing gate in the LA airport for five hours, listening to CNN blare the same stories over and over again.)

Utilize this Sequester Checklist to help you plan your days

I’m an obsessive lover of planners but at the moment I’m limited to the journals and notebooks I took with me to France, with not a planner among them since I was trying to save space. So it did my heart good to find this Sequester Checklist. You might like it, too. (It’s from Carrie Frye at Black Cardigan Edit, via Max Daniels. Thanks to both of them.)

Remember, it’s an inside game

Yes, the distractions are external, but your reaction to them are internal.Which means you can control them. You just need to choose to do so. Yeah, I know, easier said than done. But you can do it. Because wouldn’t you love to come out of this lockdown knowing you accomplished some good writing? I think you would. And I know you can.

Suggestions to help you write

Journal

We writers are chroniclers. And now’s an important time to chronicle. One of the most important times ever. Historians will be studying this era for decades to come. Your perspective is important, so get it down on the page somehow. As historian Herbert Braun said, “I suggest that you keep a record — in one or more different forms of your own choosing, a journal, a blog, an e-portfolio, a film, a series of artworks, a short story, poems, a series of haikus — of your life in these unprecedented days. Each individual perspective is valuable, and adds to the whole.”

Start something new

I’ve been rewriting for months, first one novel and now another. I’m itching to be in the place of raw, free writing. I’m not even sure what I want to write but I know I’m antsy to try it. And I just might allow myself to start something new. This is a time to let ourselves do what we want to do. We have so many restrictions on us at the moment, let’s take our freedom where we can get it!

Write fast and use prompts

This is not the time to labor over every word (unless doing that makes you happy). Maybe you don’t have the mental bandwidth to focus on your WIP. You can find a prompt and write for fifteen minutes and still keep your writing practice going.

Writing Prompts Aren’t Just for Beginners
How to use them and why you shouldwritingcooperative.com

Suggestions on how to unwind

Meditate

Yeah, I know. Not your thing. But maybe this is a time to make it your thing. It will help you stay sane during this time. And it will help you with your writing. Trust me on this. You can start slow and easy, with five minutes and edge it up. Or not. Even five minutes a day will help.

Do what makes you happy

Now is not the time to blanket yourself with shoulds. If napping in the afternoon delights you but you don’t let yourself do it because you feel lazy, to heck with it. Do it anyway. If a glass of wine at night relaxes you go for it. If talking on the phone (that sweet anachronistic habit that is suddenly back in force) pleases you, go for it.

Be kind, to yourself and others

It’s a safe bet that none of us are accomplishing as much writing as we’d like. Don’t beat yourself up over it. Praise yourself for what you are getting done. And do that for others, too. Your kids aren’t getting a full day’s worth of schooling? Be pleased for what they are doing.

Most importantly, remember that this, too, shall pass. As I keep telling my family — soon we’ll be together in the backyard having a barbecue, reminiscing about this time. I believe that. I hope you do, too.

(By the way, the title of this piece comes from a quote by the late, lamented knitter Elizabeth Zimmerman. The original said: Knit on, with confidence and hope, through all crises. It’s great advice, whether applied to writing or knitting.)