Will you be writing about your experience?

Hi, Patricia. Like many authors, I find the internal distraction and stress this pandemic has induced deeply affects my ability to produce anything new. No problem. I have several unfinished stories and a couple of other projects to keep my writing juices flowing. I started a "virus notes" document. Instead of a formal journal, I keep it simple by jotting down dreams, new and strange experiences, observations, and new words. Someday I may draw upon it for a story but later. It is still happening and too many unknowns lie ahead. The work I'm already immersed in quiets the worry. I like calm. 

LOL. Great question. Yes, though not perhaps as a historical document. Probably as a work of fiction inspired by these circumstances. I'm actually already thinking of my  next script and think that it will be based not just on the pandemic, but on the events of the past 3 years (and before).

I have actually written 2 poems in regards to COVID-19 called "Domino Effect" and "God's Whisper"

"Domino Effect"

Like dominoes lined up in the gentle breeze or

A storm wind blowing that knocks you to your knees

The "Effect" of this outbreak is far and wide

We can clearly hear the people cry

The time is now to come together and listen to him

Our lives are forever changing once again

What happened to the dominoes lined up in the gentle breeze?

Listen to him as he brings you to your knees

Pray for peace and healing for all of the country!

The "Domino Effect"

Are you listening?

"God's Whisper"

"God's Whispering" in your ear

Draw him near to all you fear

Band Together hand in hand

For one another he knows you can

Come Together in all you do

Is What "God's Whisper" is asking of you

"Domino Effect" and "God's Whisper"

written by Tammy Spears

Author of "Flutter of an Eye"

What Does a Writer Do During the Virus Stay at Home? 

        Write, of course. But write about what? 

            Back in January, I was beginning my mornings and afternoons climbing up to the third floor to be among the books in the biblioteca in Pietrasanta, province of Lucca, in northern Italy, where I, with my characters, could compose the opening chapters of my 17th novel. When the library closed, I would descend the same stairs, walk across the broad Piazza and sit outside the Bar Michelangelo, sipping my glass of Chianti and observe the town folks mingling and talking, the dogs being walked on their leashes, the babies peering out from their strollers, the locals coming and going, and the young man doing his daredevil stunts on his bicycle, along with the Carabinieri in their little Fiats patrolling.

            For five weeks it was an unusual opportunity to observe a different culture, live a different life, and admire a different lifestyle of a peoples with a different history. Nearby was the site of a German massacre of local partisans fighting the Wehrmacht in the final months of World War II. And next to the Bar Michelangelo ran the historic Roman Road, along which ambassadors from King Henry VIII traveled to personally plead his divorce case with the Pope—yes, those ancient fellows traveled this main street of what is now the town of Pietrasanta. 

            Alas, it came time for me, my characters, and Helen to make our way by train to Rome’s airport and return to Rossmoor. At the airport, in an environment with armed military watching the stream of passengers, boarding passes clutched, suitcases in tow, we were asked if we’d been to China in the last two weeks. Several airport staff, the military, and a few passengers were wearing masks. During our change of planes in Atlanta, there were more than the normal security check points, but finally, late that same day, we arrived in SFO and were back in Rossmoor.

            Now, only having to climb my two sets of stairs to reach my manor after my morning walk across the wide-open golf course, my characters and I have resumed our back and forth paragraph discussions. They and I are home again, this time in a totally different environment, one more familiar, but yet one less offering of revelations and insights into a different culture. 

            Approaching some 40,000 words, my novel is in now the final landing approach, that is, except for the rigorous editing it will need. In the denouement, maybe some characters will be sent back to walk the Roman Road, but how will they get there, given the travel restrictions? Yet, each evening, I long for that glass of Chianti in the Bar Michelangelo on the piazza of Pietrasanta.

One of the thoughts that keeps popping up in my brain is whether whatever entity started the existence of our universe/planet/human species has finally gotten tired of all the bad things we've done to everything. Our disregard for other life forms, our disregard for keeping things clean and reusable, etc. So now that entity is showing us what we've done and what we need to do to make it better. Have you noticed that the level of atmospheric pollution is now down? The skies around the world are clearer? Other animals are feeling freer to roam about? Many of you won't agree with me and that's fine with me, but this is a thought I keep having.

My creative juices have gone into overdrive. I normally write historical romances, but when I saw a line of senior citizens lined up outside the local grocery store in the dark, I got an idea for a short contemporary story about finding love in the midst of a pandemic. Look for it in the anthology, Love In The Time of Corona, Vol. 2.

I write about my experiences as a Deep Cover Black Operative. The Dan Morgan Thriller Series is written as fiction, but based on my career as an operative.

I've crafted a couple of blog posts about my experiences. I don't know if I'll use the overall situation as a basis for a larger writing project, but I do know that the sum of my experiences contributes to everything I write. Overall, my creativity is more stifled at the moment but that could be due to creative burnout that struck me in January more than the situation at hand.

I’m editing my book “I Never Saw The Arrow Coming”and I’m going to add a segment at the very end about the COVID-19.

No, certainly not. But I've done a great deal of writing work during the pause. Novel set for publication by Baen in August - edits, copyedit, page proofs; also a novella, also for Baen; and my next novel has moved forward. But this time, this experience? I wouldn't buy a book about it, so I'm unlikely to write one.