It’s now nearly middle of March, and we finally have at least the hope of an end to this lockdown we’re enduring.
For those who don’t live in the UK, the whole of England went into this extreme situation just before Christmas, and we can only go out for outdoor exercise, food shopping, pharmacy and healthcare needs. We were allowed to spend time — socially distant, of course — with one other person outdoors, somewhere like a public park, but we couldn't sit and chat on a bench or stand and watch our kids at the playground. Not that I have any kids at playground age, but you get what I mean. That restriction has just been lifted and all the schools have returned – to the relief of many homeschooling parents.
I know many other parts of the world have seen similar lockdowns and restrictions, and I empathize with you all.
You wouldn’t have thought being at home all day would be hard, but it is.
It’s so hard. I was okay during the first lockdown, especially with the small reprieve during part of the summer, but this time I’m climbing the walls. I want to feel normal — whatever that is — and I want to be able to see my friends, visit my family, go to a coffee shop, eat out in a honest-to-goodness restaurant with someone else doing the cooking, serving and clearing up. Most of all, I want to have back that sense of ‘I can be out whenever I want, do whatever I want, go wherever I want’.
I want to just be me.
The upside of all this, though, has to be all the time I’ve had to write. I now have one manuscript finalized and ready to be published, a prequel to my series in second draft, and another manuscript in a first, rough draft that is so big I’ll have to split it into two books.
Despite all this time on my hands and a quietish environment in which to write, I still find myself dreaming and fantasizing about a writing retreat with a couple of my best writing buddies.
For me, it would be overlooking the sea. A cozy cabin with an open fireplace, a terrace taking advantage of the view, and plenty of food, coffee, and wine.
We would spend our days drinking coffee, writing, and talking books, and our evenings drinking wine, talking books and writing, discussing men, women, kids, and dreams and fantasies.
I know where I can find this kind of cabin, with the view, I just need us to be out of lockdown, vaccinated, healthy and happy, and with some spare time together. It will happen. I will make sure of it.
Yorumlar