Call it what you want: shelter-in-place, quarantine, cronacation… no matter what you call it, we are home.
Home should be a dream to all writers, after all, now we have all the time in the world to write. Yet, that isn’t how it seems to shake out, is it?
I have gotten fewer words on the page the past three weeks than any three weeks of January or February.
Why?
Because everything is “off.” The house is noisier, the kids are needier, and solitude writing time is a thing of the past.
My favorite place to write is a chair that happens to sit next to the TV. My second favorite place to write is at the library or coffee shop. Do you see a problem here?
But the truth is, I have a book deadline that is approaching and a story that still needs to get on the page.
So now what?
I sit and write. Some times it feels like walking through a swamp but doctors don’t always have ideal conditions to work in, teachers have to adjust to teaching via zoom, and writers. . . well, we have to adjust to writing in noisy houses. (At this moment my youngest is running through the house screaming – but it a happy scream so I will let it go – lol)
But I have also so found three things that help me get words on the page beyond BIC – But in Chair.
- Time with God – this has always been important but right now I have discovered without a daily refocus I am quick to spiral down into a defeated attitude.
- Physical activity – I have never been too good at keeping up my exercise routine but taking at least 30 a day to walk, do the elliptical, run around the back yard is essential.
- Accomplish something – I’ll admit it. There have been days I allowed myself to get pulled into the discouragement of it all and have done nothing but care for basic needs. But when I find a task and complete it (organize a shelf in the bathroom, do laundry, work on the garage) I can still feel like I am moving forward in life in the midst of shelter-in-place.
What about you? What are you doing to help you get words on the page right now?