Life in the time of cornavirus

Pondering

I can think of no other event in my lifetime that has happened to us all, except for this one, this covid-19. The idea though that it’s a great equalizer has proven flawed because not all of are experiencing it the same way. Not everyone’s reacting to it the same way. And certainly not all of us are putting our lives out there in the public by continuing to work outside of the home.

At the onset, I was reading all the news, the updates, the opinions, and moving between being sad, angry, self-righteous, and then sad again. So I was smart enough to move away from all the news and opinions and try to re-find normal. I haven’t yet, and I wonder if any of it will ever be the same. But maybe this is what is meant by a wake-up call, one that should be heeded.

I think the people of the world have been careless for too long. It’s now time to take back the word “care.” Make it caring. Careful. Caregiving. And, not just to each other but to the earth that holds us in its palm.

Personal

Personally, these past two months have been ones of extreme un-focus. How I managed to survive the A to Z challenge with threadbare discipline, I will never know. But it was also good to have that, to force myself to write, and create and lose myself in another world.

That’s what books give us too. If you’re like me, even reading has been hard in these weeks unless the book has been extra good.

Speaking of reading. I’ve been reading but not writing the reviews, which means at least three will be popping up very, very soon.

I received my second rejection of the year yesterday morning. The good thing about having sent so much stuff out over the years is that rejection doesn’t knock my world down. And, maybe it’s also part in fact that so many people are having their worlds literally knocked apart that a little rejection of a not perfect story shouldn’t upset me in the scheme of things. I will write another day, another story.

For my flash fiction writing colleagues, I found this market that I’ll share with you: 101 Words (101 Word Short Stories). As you can guess, they take flash fiction that is 101 words. Submission instructions are on their page. Yes, they were my second rejection, but I submitted another story last night. Perseverance.

I hope each of you is well and coping as best you can. Take care!