You would think with COVID sending people into quarantine all over the world that it would be a writer’s dream come true.
No commute to eat up writing time?
Maybe I can carve out writing time in between all the going’s on for “working at home” and whatnot?
Look at all that TIME!
Sadly, this has not been my experience with COVID.
For those of you writers who have managed to knock out a novel or two in the last months, I salute you. I also envy you.
I am not among those who found themselves quarantined at home. My day job rescuing animals and finding them new homes with a local no-kill shelter is considered essential. Remarkably, our shelter has managed to keep trucking along with new policies that limit the number of adopters allowed in the building, which means that I have been employed this entire time.
I might have been able to eek a few extra words in here or there when we were short on adoptable pets, but I’m afraid there has been one other time-eater on my plate; my son.
Don’t get me wrong, I love my kid.
Love him to the moon and back again.
But I am not a teacher.
In fact, if COVID has taught me anything, it’s that I made the right decision when I shied away from an education major in college. I get impatient with the poor boy when he doesn’t understand what’s on the page, and then impatient with myself when I can’t figure out a clearer way to explain it to him.
Teachers, you are lovely and wonderful people. I don’t know how you do it. It must be a kind of passion to keep working at such an under-appreciated job. For all of you who have worked tirelessly to adapt with COVID, creating lesson plans that can be done online and maintaining remote learning meetings, you’re heroes.
Thank you for what you do.
Now that school is officially out, where does that leave me writing-wise? Many of my deadlines for the year drifted by in the COVID haze, and my unfinished works seem to mock me every time I glance at my laptop.
Still, I suppose it is the habit of every writer to brush off such mocking, roll up their sleeves, and get back to work.
So here’s me, rolling up my sleeves.
Stay safe out there.
AJMaguire - Author 