I went shopping today for just a few things (you know, for the things that are NOT there anymore), and ended up with 2 more cans of stewed tomatoes, enchilada sauce and spaghetti sauce. In case we really do have to eat that pasta and those beans.
A woman wanting flour ended up with a box of Cake Flour at 4x the price, and asked me how I was doing. “Up and down all day, every day!” I responded with a smile. We found ourselves in the same boat, not sure whether to paddle harder (and where to?), or just pull in the oars and drift (where will we end up then?) It’s easy to succumb to despair and fear with everything being out of our control.
Things are getting real.
Right now, it might seem to be a frivolous past-time to write at all.
Maybe your mood is suppressed (or RUINED), maybe you’re feeling uninspired, worn down, overwhelmed, or feeling “stuck”, because your emotions are up and down and your thoughts are all over the place.
That’s where I’m at most of the time. But lately I’m beginning to remember why I loved writing the Western novel – and how much I would love to go back and live there. There’s no denying that things were harder, but they were much less complex! No Wal-Mart, no internet. You were in charge of acquiring it, raising it, making it, hunting it, curing, salting, drying, storing and baking it, and caring for it on your own.
You’d better think ahead to winter during the springtime and make plans for having enough, even if something went awry. Because that’s what always happened!
For all of us, it’s not the first time things have gone awry, it’s the first time EVERYTHING has gone awry all at once.
We feel out of sorts because we’ve never been down a road like this before. Perhaps it’s not done, taking us down this road, either.
I went to the library to pick up my pre-ordered books & they were CLOSED UNTIL FURTHER NOTICE. It was a disappointment, to say the least. I mean, now how will I get thru all these days of waiting thru? How will I escape into an alternate reality that’s more to my liking?!
Oh, I guess I’ll have to write my own book, for me to read!
Writers have the best gift for these times….
Writers can write ourselves right out of this world and into any other world we want! Is that not the greatest gift?
And then we can launch it, a gift to others, maybe when they need it most.
Speaking of saving ourselves & launching our story worlds… I want to share these ~
💙 Literary Agent Jessica Faust @ Bookends Literary Agency gently offers some tips for writers getting thru these days of social distancing… which I think are timely and thoughtful – I’d gratefully give a roll of toilet paper to Jessica for this. It made my day 632x better.
“Tips for Writing During Tough Times”
♥ Also be encouraged by Chris Fox (a very cool dad, Sci-Fi writer & artist, and Vlogger for fellow writers):
♥ Here’s an author who rides in on YouTube to take us into the story world… During the current lockdown (in a growing number of places), award winning children’s author and illustrator, Shoo Rayner, is vlogging his children’s stories (he has over 200 so far), and sharing illustration tips too.
I am sprinkling some Unicorn Glitter Shoo’s way!
The Winter is long. WE need our stories, and the world NEEDS our stories! ESPECIALLY IN HARD TIMES. Bleak times. When the sky is gray and the outlook is never-ending cold.
Of course we need educational material. How else can we understand History (and not raise up another generation to repeat follies?)
The best way to showcase and understand a viewpoint or lesson though, is through story. (Even songs are often stories).
How else can we make the most of what we have and excel as we develop into ourselves?
How else can we learn about how things work, the inner workings of systems and of people themselves, so that we can protect ourselves and expand humanity’s promise?
I wish we could be born knowing everything we need to know to make the most of this life.
I wish we could turn back time and allowed a “re-do”, to do things better & erase our regrets.
I wish others, those we care about most, would heed our words and wagging finger – to avoid pain: learn the lessons we learned the hard way.
But have you noticed, none of those come true, ever?
Stories are our hope that the sun will come out & the sky will be blue again… we will overcome!
Write. It’s heroic! Never give up. Hang tight, stay loose, and breathe.
♥ ~Laureli
Enchanting Unicorns 