A Writer's Resilience

How did the COVID lockdown impact your writing in 2020?

• I was MORE productive: 42%
• I was LESS productive: 33%
• About the same: 25%

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Dear Reader,

Another article with COVID in it?!?

Yes, people are COVID-fatigued.  Yet, even though we talk-it-to-death, it's hard to ignore that it's impacted everyone's lives one way or another. 

When many stayed home during lockdowns (Thank you, essential workers!), people leaned on current or new hobbies as means of coping. I started working from home March 2020, and I personally struggled a lot with that. Although an introvert at heart, I thrived with human interaction at work, and the constant reminder of my snack drawer didn't help. 

There had to be a silver lining... right? I at least could start my next novel! Yeah, that's perfect!

Yet, as the weeks flew by, I procrastinated. Instead of using what would've been my hour-long commute to write my next YA fantasy, I searched for a distraction. I picked up gardening. I played more video games. I checked Facebook and Instagram WAYYYY too often. Excluding the excessive use of social media, those other things sound like a decent use of lockdown time, right? Sure it was.

I enjoyed harvesting fresh zucchini and blackberries. It was nice to catch up on some amazing games. However, as someone who considers themselves a part-time author, I was just throwing time out the window. I had to look within and find the answers as to why I wrote less when I had more time?

For me, I believe it was the gravity of COVID and political turmoil that dampened my creativity. 2020 was the beginning of. an incredibly stressful time- my depression worsened, and a major symptom of my MDD is diminished motivation. Even though writing brings me joy, it requires significant brain power and passion to sit myself down for hours. I felt that during lock-down, I was constantly processing what was going on, what could happen, and how I could keep my family and I safe. Gardening brought a sense of zen in my life that didn't require thinking. Gaming didn't either. I wanted to shut my brain off. I was COVID-fatigued.

I was curious to see how other writers experienced 2020 with regards to their productivity. Casting a recent pole among my community, I found a relatively even spread of those that were more productive, less productive, or experienced no change. For those that were less productive, they were focused on other areas of life, but later explained they bounced back stronger than ever. I'm happy to say I fell in that "rebound" camp as well. I am now working on final edits to my forth novel, Winds of Amicita (title pending).

So, what's the point of all this?

Everyone processes life-changing events differently. COVID was life-changing for everyone on this planet. For those that write professionally or as a hobby seem particularly resilient as it provides them with the mental stimulation needed to move through challenges. While some like myself struggled, we worked through these challenges and became better. In fact, my current novel has been my most enjoyable writing experience thus far! 

No, the plot has nothing to do with a pandemic.

Here's to my writing friends-let's carry on and continue to spin tales for people to enjoy. Let's give them an avenue of escapism during these rough times.

I wanted to kick off my 2021 blog year with this- in part to explain my absence, but also let you know you're not alone. The pandemic touched us all one way or another. Even if you don't write, I'm sure your turned to or avoided something that brings you happiness...But now we reached a new year, and the advent of vaccines shined a bright light of hope on us.

Anyway, I finally got my groove back and can't wait to fill this site with various topics, author interviews, and book reviews. Stay tuned! The next blog will come out later this March as I interview multi-genre Canadian author, Kerri Davidson.

Peace!
​J.E

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Need motivation?
Check out this neat article from Psychology Today:

"10 Ways to Get Motivated During the Pandemic"

Note: This article is not writing-specific. Just a nice, generalized article on motivation!

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I am a pharmacist and published author of YA fantasy. I use this blog to write about various topics for readers and writers alike. I conduct author interviews and book reviews- with a primary focus on indie writers/stories. I firmly believe in authors supporting authors! I have three main links below if you want a quick tour to see if this may be a frequent stop for you in the future : )

Check out my book reviews!

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