Writing project – Page 22 – Marie Alice Writes & Reads

Diary of a writing project. Day 169: Writing quarantine – First of fourteen

The libraries are closed. Among severals other institutions and public services. Order of the government. It’s understandable. There’s a pandemic after all.

When I heard the news though, that’s when I started to feel real uneasy about this whole virus thing. Not that I was so comfortable with the idea in the first place!

The libraries are closed. Among severals other institutions and public services. Order of the government.

It’s understandable. There’s a pandemic after all.

When I heard the news though, that’s when I started to feel real uneasy about this whole virus thing. Not that I was so comfortable with the idea in the first place!

Books are my safety blanket, a beautiful source of comfort, whenever real-life gets… troubled. And so is the library. With the soft smell of paper, ink, dust and whatever product they use in the bathrooms.
I do wonder, how many of you, fellow writers, feels this way about books and libraries?

We’re lucky. This house is packed with books, for I have a bit of a « you can never buy too many books ».

And we are both working from home in the first place – even though I don’t have any freelance writing gigs at the moment – , so work-wise, money-wise, it’s fine, kinda, I think.

Adjusting the writing routine will be my biggest challenge for the coming weeks.

Taking care of a young kid is a full-time job, plain and simple, so I plan to write very early in the morning, during nap time and in the evening, like I always do.

Today, at 8 pm, I was not able to focus on the manuscript anymore but unable to sleep either. One of those weird side effects of the pandemic, anxiety.

Here I am, trying to find fun and free indoors activities for kiddo and me. Also trying to find ways to not become a crazy yelling mess, like I was this morning.

Well, better sleep on it I guess.

Dear fellow writers, all the best in your current writing endeavours.

Diary of a writing project. Day 167: The gloomy novel idea I will never work on

At first, I thought it would make a good novel.

The in-famous Covid-19 was just starting to spread its viral wings-tentacles-thing-ys, and getting out of China was becoming a problem.
The government of my friendly country sent an airplane to bring many people home.
Among those people was a family of four.
Problem was, the husband, both with Chinese and Canadian citizenship, was to stay behind. In the infected zone.

On the radio-show I listen to every morning or so, for a week or two, we’d listen to her anxious plea to get her whole family back home. Back to safety.

In real-life, this story has a happy ending.

However, in my mind…

Continuer la lecture

Diary of a writing project. Day 166: writing in the time of COVID-19

I spent the first half-hour of my 5 am writing session roaming Pinterest, looking for activities.

COVID-19 came to our small town, in the form of the ghost of fear and the ghost of panic.

Schools are closing. People are going nuts over toiler paper (oh by all the big G’s up there) and a dangerous, dangerous frustration is brewing.

It’s hard to focus on writing, with that health crisis in the back of my mind.

How will things change?

I know, it’s not kind, but instead of thinking of the poor people who caught that weird flu, I’m thinking about Mother Nature.

This morning, it’s quiet and cool, 4-degree Celsius, 40 Fahrenheit.
Canadian Gooses are goosing on the water nearby, loons are softly swimming around. Heavy clouds are holding the promise of heavy rain. There’s a warning for floods.

And yet, the roads are quiet, like the morning after Christmas Eve.

Theatres are closing, libraries too. No more hockey, no more basketball.

My day job simply stopped.

In front of the computer this morning, looking at my writing project, I’m thinking this is why I write.
To give hope. To make us, humans, dream when we’re happy, and when we’re facing a crisis of this magnitude.

I never feel like writing is useless. For one thing, writing keeps me mentally sain!
But these days, creating stories, to me, seems more important than ever.

We, creators of stories, can provide an escape, a comfort, a giggle or two. Our stories have that much power.

Dear writer friends, out of this worldwide crisis, out of the fears I have for my kiddo and my loved ones, I get sort of a re-assurance about the choice I made to go on this crazy writing quest.
Neil Gaiman said it oh so very well: « Art matters ».