I expect we all have a unique lockdown story. Mine was one of feast and famine. My six year old daughter spent half of the week with her dad and half with me. When she was away I was totally alone as my partner was deployed overseas for the duration with the Royal Navy. When she was with me it was an intense period of home-schooling battles, make-believe playtimes and lots and lots of baking.
Lost
Although the days of quiet solitude could be lonely, they were something of a gift too. I had book three to write and was only a few thousand words into it when lockdown arrived. There were no distractions and no excuses. I had begun my writing career under similar conditions. During the credit crunch of 2008, all my work as an organisational psychologist disappeared overnight. I faced month after month with nothing to do and no end in sight. I felt the anxiety rising and the depression creeping in and so I decided – on a whim – that I would write a story for my sisters as a Christmas present. It was my salvation. It gave me purpose and routine but most importantly I fell in love with writing.
In lockdown my writing once more saved my sanity. Each day alone I would have coffee and toast while re-reading the previous day’s writings. Then I would use my allowed trip out to run– a tool I have long used to help me to plot out my stories – and spend the remainder of the day writing. As before it provided routine and purpose but this time it also worked as a heathy distraction. Immersing myself in another world away from the realities of a global pandemic, reduced income and worries about how the lack of schooling might affect my child, was invaluable. I love spending time with my main characters, they are good company for me now. And in my nightly calls to my other half on the other side of the world, we would avoid dwelling on the weirdness of our world and instead discuss the various plot lines – thus inspiring me to make the story even better.
As life returns to normal – well closer at any rate – I wonder if I shall miss the time and space lockdown provided. My daughter is back at school, my partner is finally home and my consultancy work is getting busier. But book four is yet to be written, I am only a few thousand words in and the deadline looms…
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