Tag: Writing

Weekly writing check-in: writing in the time of COVID

As I mentioned, way back in the dark ages of April, I came down with all the symptoms of the coronavirus. I got better, got a bit of my writing mojo back, and all seemed well.

You know where this is going.

A couple of weeks ago, I started getting shortness of breath, tightness in my chest along with some pain. At first, I thought I had some allergy-induced asthma since we went from cold and rainy to BOOM! sunshine and blooms.

But no. To make a long story short, this week, I got confirmation. Yes, I absolutely had COVID back in April, and what I’m experiencing now is that second round some people are getting.

But no worries. My lungs are clear (chest x-ray), a blood test for clotting (just fine), and an EKG (also fine). I have a stress echocardiogram scheduled for Thursday just to make certain all is well with my heart.

Still. I cannot imagine what some people are going through with this virus. My lungs are clear, and it still hurts, I’m still short of breath. Often it’s weird and random. I can feel absolutely fine and begin to chide myself for overreacting, and then twenty minutes later, I’ll wonder if today’s the day I might be visiting the ER.

I made dinner last night since I was feeling like a sloth for not doing much all day (and by dinner, I mean that I put some pasta on to boil and dumped salad into a bowl–this was not a strenuous activity). After? I had to go lie down.

In actual writing news, I did get everything scheduled for the 2020 story project through July (whew!). I did take notes on the new project, and I think I found a plotline for a Coffee and Ghosts short story.

All things considered?

Not bad.

Weekly writing check-in: outlining in the rain

Actually, the rain is outside, so I wasn’t outlining in the rain. However, I did finish an outline for what I think will be my next book (novella or novel, not quite sure at this point).

At least, I hope it will be my next book. I don’t want to jinx it or anything.

In the meantime, I need to go research a few things, like haunted engagement rings, wedding magazines, and ghost puns.

Weekly writing check-in: murderbot and story planning

I’m really enjoying Network Effect, the fifth book in The Murderbot Diaries series. I’m glad I reread the first four books before diving in. I’m not 100% sure the fifth in the series stands alone. It could, but I think it’s far better to read the entire series in order.

This week, I finished scheduling stories for May and came up with a plan for posting stories for June and July. It involves a serial story for July, which was not my original intent.

But you know what? I did not expect a pandemic and murder hornets and all the rest. As we used to say in the Army: Improvise. Adapt. Overcome.

So I think that’s what I’ll go do on this cold, rainy Mother’s Day.

Weekly writing check-in: pollen and murderbot

So much pollen. But a little writing as well. And a lot of reading.

This week, I’m re-reading The Murderbot Diaries in anticipation of the release of book #5 on Tuesday. The first in the series is on sale at the moment if you want to give it a try. One of the things I’ve enjoyed about the series is the novella-length of each title. We’ll see how I feel about the standalone novel-length entry (maybe by next week–I’ll let you know).

And now I’m going to try to do something despite the pollen.

Weekly writing check-in: sunshine and pollen

Wait, wasn’t it two weeks ago I was complaining about the snow? Yeah, it was either two weeks or four years ago. One of those.

I’m really feeling the pollen this year. I suspect it’s because I was sick about a month ago, and my lungs aren’t fully healed yet.

But the sun is shining! We’re building a little garden in the backyard. I turned in my article and started a story.

As weeks go, I’ll take it.

Weekly writing check-in: chocolate eggs and sunshine

Now we have some sunshine. It’s lovely out there, a far cry from last weekend. And we still have chocolate eggs, so there’s that as well.

I’ve been pondering my 2020 story project. I had the notion for it back in November of 2019, and I was all:

Sure! Let’s do this!

After all, I have a back catalog of stories that aren’t doing anything, plus I figured I could fill in any gaps during the year. I scheduled several weeks in advance and all was good.

Then 2020 actually happened.

I have one story in the queue for next Friday. And that’s it.

Mind you, I still have stories I can post. Some are … weird. I’m not talking trunk stories. These have been published, but they’re still a little, shall we say, quirky. I’m thinking the theme for May should be oddities and ends and just call it done.

In other news, I’m nearly done with my article. I want to do a “listening proof” (text-to-speech) before I send it out. I highly recommend this as a way of proofing your own work.

Weekly writing check-in: chocolate eggs and snow

We have some chocolate eggs here, and we have snow. This is a Minnesota thing.

It’s more surprising when it doesn’t snow on Easter.

I’m feeling better this week. I can string sentences together, and I think I’m mostly caught up at work.

I also did some writing!

About five years ago, back in early March*, I sent out a query for an article. I promptly forgot about it, got sick, and sometime in that foggy in between, got an acceptance.

They’d like the actual article, please.

I spent time this week drafting that. I’ll let it rest for the week, revise and edit next weekend, and then send it on its way.

On today’s agenda, after a little writing, I think I’ll consume some of those chocolate eggs and get in a couple hours of reading.

*It feels like five years ago, anyway.

Weekly writing check-in: of wolves and viruses

So, this past week started off with a nice surprise. My flash fiction piece, Crying Wolf, was the Monday story over at Daily Science Fiction.

Then Wednesday happened. I woke up with all the classic symptoms of the coronavirus. On April Fools’ Day. Because, why not?

I’m much better. My chest is still tight, my lungs hurt a bit, and I’m short of breath. However, I’m not having weird, random pain in my lungs. I sneezed on Wednesday, and it felt like someone lit a match in my chest cavity.

I’m taking it slow, being careful, alert to any possible secondary infections. I wasn’t sick enough for the hospital, so for now, I have no idea whether it was the coronavirus or just some other random virus that decided to mess with my week. I wish I knew. Once I’m symptom-free, if I’m immune, I could go into the community and volunteer. But, of course, I don’t know for sure.

So. Not a lot of writing. I have been able to read, so that’s been a nice respite.

Be well, everyone.

Weekly writing check-in: Taking my own advice

So I took my own advice from last week and shut down all my social media/distracting websites (there’s always that one site …) and took a deep dive into Photoshop.

I worked through two tutorials. The first was to create an illustrated cover using stock illustrations.

For this cover, I reused the butterfly image I had (see Friday’s free fiction) and the background. The only new element is the illustration of the girl’s face.

I put my name on this one, even though I have no story idea whatsoever. Maybe someday I will, and then hey, look! I have a cover!

Also, I often misspell butterfly as butteryfly. Pretty sure I didn’t do that here.

Then yesterday, I worked through another tutorial. The objective of this one was to create a sweet romance cover.

It’s definitely a romance, and a sweet one at that. How do you tell? They’re smiling, and they have all their clothes on.

This probably has more of a romantic comedy vibe, but I think it meets the requirements. (It’s not like I’m being graded or anything, so …)

You’ll notice it’s also penned by Callie Robb. Callie is my imaginary author friend for whom I design book covers. She’s way more prolific than I am. I’d be jealous, except none of us here believe she has a rich inner life.

Weekly writing check-in: strange days, indeed

As you might imagine, it was a strange week for everyone. I did a bit of Photoshop work and got a Friday story scheduled and … that’s about it.

Here’s the thing. You might be super creative during this time. In which case, go you! You might not. In which case, go you! Do what you need to during this time, whether that’s binge-watching or binge-cleaning, along with keeping yourself and others as safe as possible.

Some random things that you might find helpful:

  • Judicious social media blocking. There are many app and social media blockers. I use Freedom. Keep yourself from reneging on your promise NOT to check social media (and avoid the inevitable guilt spiral). Seriously. It works.
  • Free Shakespeare plays from the Globe Theatre.
  • Free stories from Audible (for littles to teens).
  • Writing in a time of crisis: