These Foggy Times We Live In

Like many, I am currently quarantined in my home while COVID-19 runs rampant, and those in power here continue to abuse their privilege of office and exacerbate the problem. First of all, I want to wish everyone reading this well. Be safe. Take great care of yourself and those around you. Yes, I am onboard with trying to reduce the casualties (and more so, the fatalities) of the virus, and have yet to wrap my head around what could possibly be going on in the heads of those who are incapable of taking this seriously. I’m thinking about everyone I know and love and care about, and I’m not willing to picture the loss of them due to the stupidity of others with any sense of peace or grace. I know I’m not at all alone in that.

Do your part, if you aren’t already. Be a bigger person. Believe the hype that this is serious and will cyclone it’s way through all of our lives somehow. No one is immune to either the virus itself or the aftermath. No one. Don’t disappoint me.

So what am I doing in this time?

I’m grateful to say that I can work from home. It hasn’t been easy, as I’ve long been a believer that work should stay at work and not enter my creative space. I spend my “workday” at my kitchen table, which is the least comfortable place to sit (especially for 8 hours), drawing mental barriers to keep the rest of this tiny apartment sacred. Sure, my work is important and I’m grateful to have that as well. Some lines you just don’t cross and activities you don’t mix. For the sake of my sanity, it has to be this way, or I’ll do a half-assed job of everything, professional, creative-professional, or otherwise. Boundaries, people.

It’s been particularly challenging to stay creative since my quarantine. Working-from-home started on March 16th. My last day out was March 14th, and I’ve only been to the store once–March 20th. I constantly feel like I’m waiting on something (maybe from being on top of my work email during the workdays?), and can’t focus enough to get through much. Thankfully, I finished “The Merry Widow of Frankenstein” before WFH started (barely). I’ve stumbled through some editing on “Cradled” forĀ The Doll Collection: Volume Three. I’ve read through about a third of “The Merry Widow…” to see how it sounds (so far, so good), and wrote a couple of pretty lame poems. At some point before all this, I started another pulp story called “High Horse”, and last night, started yet another one titled “Adam’s Apple”. As you may have noticed from previous posts here, “Casting Couch” and “Dead Drop” have been written, and yes–eventually I will put a whole alphabet’s worth into a single book. By then, “Casting Couch” will be available for republishing, after it’s appearance in Crazy 8 Press’ Thrilling Adventure Yarns, Volume 2. I don’t expect to get through 20-some stories quickly, so timing on that should work out well.

Speaking of Crazy 8 Press: we met our goal for fundingĀ BAD ASS MOMS, and I believe it will still be out in July, as expected, though it’s too early to know if we’ll launch it at Shore Leave. So many events have been cancelled and that’s just far enough out that it’s hard to say. Here’s hoping it will be a go.

At the end of the last post, I mentioned reading the first pages or so of my stories and posting the videos. I attempted to do this but with some technical difficulties, so I will have to revisit that once I find a way around it. I was recording through my laptop, but may have to resort to using my phone, since I seem to be able to do it that way and upload with no problem. Not sure what the issue was via the laptop. I did it through a program I’ve never used before, so… Probably operator error.

Not much else to report at the moment. Just trying to keep on keepin’ on, like everyone else, and not let anything but positivity lead the way. As always, the hardest part of that is in not knowing what is on the horizon…