Tag: quarantine

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questions and curfews

You know how some days your coffee tastes extra good? Today is like that. Mmmm, coffee.

In other news, California is going into a partial lockdown this weekend in an effort to curb the spread of Covid-19, which is to say that the governor issued a curfew curtailing public outings and/or gatherings between the hours of 10 pm and 5 am.

I have questions.

How much gathering and outings are happening during those hours?
Is the virus only contagious during those hours?
With the list of exceptions, what is it we’re actually not allowed to do?
Who is picking up prescriptions after 10 pm?
Who is picking up dinner at a restaurant after 10 pm?

As an agoraphobic introvert, I don’t understand why just staying home is such a problem for so many. I mean, I realize I’m in a minority here and that other people need human contact a whole lot more than I do, but with the idea that going out into the world might mean death for you, or a loved one, how is that choice hard?

In yet other news, being up super early means I get some extra writing time today. Coupled with the extra good tasting coffee, this news makes me happy. It’s the little things, you know?

Happy Friday, Readers. Stay safe. Wear your mask if you have to go out. Stay home if you can. Wash your hands. Be kind, especially now. Kindness matters.

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in numbers too big to ignore

As we barrel on toward the holiday season, the coronavirus is barreling through our country with no sign of stopping. Each day this week we have seen new records for the number of new cases. Yesterday alone we had over a hundred and eighty thousand new cases, and we sit at a total of two hundred forty nine thousand, nine hundred and ninety eight deaths in the US as of the time I am writing this.

Two deaths away from a quarter of a million deaths.

That number is unfathomable.

That is the population of Boise, Idaho. Or Winston-Salem, North Carolina. That is more than the population of Rochester, New York. More than twice the population of Vacaville, California.

And still we have people saying that this thing is a hoax, or it’s no worse than the regular seasonal flu. Still we have people demanding that we open restaurants and bars, that we send our kids back to school.

With Thanksgiving around the corner, we’ll still see people gathering. With Christmas and other winter holidays a little more than a month away, we see people shopping, handling things others have handled, and more gathering.

I get that we’re all tired of the restrictions. I get that we’re bored and we miss hugs. We miss our people. I get that we need to be working and we need to kick our economy into something that resembles functional.

But what good is any of it if our people aren’t there when this is over?

Please take care, Readers! Wash your hands, wear your mask, stay home. Save a life.

Cover Photo by Mika Baumeister on Unsplash

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just promise me no zombies

With allergy season in full swing here in Northern California, it can be hard to convince folks that I’m not “sick” and that it is “just allergies”. My eyes are constantly itching and watering. I’m so congested and my sinuses so swollen that my face is puffy. And to make the whole trifecta, there is the asthma reaction to trying to do almost anything when my hayfever is like this. That means a dry, hacky cough.

Want to guess who gets ALL of the dirty looks when I venture beyond my driveway?

Granted, I’m not venturing much or far. I’ve done most of my grocery shopping by delivery, making the most of Safeway’s two hour windows. There are some things you can’t get delivered though…or at least, not at a price I’m willing to pay.

And I am willing to pay for the convenience of delivery most of the time. I just try to do it without it costing a fortune, and I try to avoid the apps, and rely on stores that do their own delivery.

But, when the prescriptions are ready, I need to venture out, and I try to use the occasion to pick up those things that I can’t get on order…the stuff you just “luck” across, like the yeast I found in the bakery section last week when I had to be in Safeway to pick up a prescription.

I’ve also turned to bartering. I scored some bread flour from a neighbor, and some ginger from another neighbor this week. Traded a bottle of olive oil for the flour, and some garlic for the ginger. All with proper social distancing…drop the item on the porch, retreat to road…they make the swap, and once inside, I go back up to the porch and retrieve my item.

Right now there is bread dough in my fridge getting all ready to go into the oven later today. I’m using this super simple, 4 ingredient, no kneading recipe for a rustic sort of artisan loaf. I’m going to trade it for a bottle of wine from my sister-in-law.

I’m not going to lie, I’m kind of terrified of what is to come. We’re opening ourselves back up way too quickly and if “they” think the economy was hurting due to people staying home, imagine how much more it’s going to hurt when more and more people are dead or dying?

We aren’t going to have to wait for a second wave in the fall. So, if this is the start of the apocalypse, best dust off those gardening and bartering skills now.

I only hope that we don’t see mutations in the virus, or this and that virus coming together to form an even deadlier one…or give us zombies. I can manage everything but zombies.

Happy Friday, Readers. Be kind to one another. Be kind to yourself.

Cover Photo by Dark Labs on Unsplash

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stuck in a hole

All week this week I’ve been telling myself to write up a post.  Each day I stare at the screen with no idea what to say.  And suddenly it’s Friday again and I didn’t post at all through the week.

Today, I’m having trouble staying focused on any one thing.  I get up from the computer to do something only then I can’t remember what it was I was going to do. I wander from the office to the kitchen, out to my little container garden and back again aimlessly.

I guess I feel stuck.

I’m sure a number of you are too.  I’m thinking today I’ll attempt to finish reading this book I’ve been in the middle of for months.  I need something different I think…something not watching another documentary or rewatching Supernatural or any of the other things I’ve filled my days with for the last month or so.

Maybe it will help unstick my brain and let me get back to work.

Be gentle with yourselves, Readers.  Stay safe.

 

Cover Photo by rosario nuñez on Unsplash

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and the edit will go on…and on…

I’ve been working all week on my first edit of The Blood Witch. I’m up to chapter 25, which is where I will be starting this morning.  I have so much love for this character. Well, all of them, honestly.

I need to work on establishing some of them a little more, make them stronger side characters with stories all of their own…you know, make them real.  This is particularly true for some of the main character’s family.

As I work through this and build up the weak spots, plug up plot holes and all of that, my muse is already spinning up the world building for the second book, because, yes, this is at least a two book series.

I’ve added over 5,000 words so far, and there are probably another 2,000 to 3,000 to come, which should drop me close to 90K by the time I’m done tinkering.  Then, provided I have the cash, I will be hiring my favorite editor to give it a good going over before I start the terrifying part: querying agents.

Having never done it, and having perpetual impostor syndrome, the thought is terrifying. I think these characters deserve my best, however, and I aim to give it to them…and the best is not just giving it to the publisher you know will take it, but won’t do much to support it once it’s out in the wild.

So, that’s how I’m muddling through the week, Readers.  That and coffee.  Lots of coffee.  Maybe that’s why I’m vibrating?  How about all of you?  How are you hanging in there?

Fancy a bit of “virtual hang out” time with me…and whoever of my friends happens to show up?  I’ll be hosting a Zoom meeting this evening.  No pressure, just a chance to see faces and chat.  I’ll put the details in the Events section over there on the right, or you can check my FB Author’s page for the link.  We did it last week, and there may have only been a few of us, but we had fun!  So come join us!

Okay, coffee’s getting cold so I’m off to slurp it down and get on with that editing business.  Y’all stay safe out there!

Oh, and if you’ve missed any of the Read Along for Through Shade and Shadow, you can find the recordings on my You Tube Playlist.

Cover Photo by Christin Hume on Unsplash

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quoth the raven, nevermore

Are you as bored as I am, Readers?  You are probably tired of blog posts about the virus and how we’re coping.  I get that.  So, here’s a video I did yesterday with me all dressed up and reading some Edgar Allan Poe to start us off.

In other news, I’m trying to get my juices flowing to start working on The Blood Witch again.  Yesterday I tried printing it out to make notes and what-not the old fashioned way, but I ran out of paper, and since it isn’t strictly necessary, I guess I’m back to doing this on the computer.

I got some great feedback from my beta readers, and hope that their notes will help me take this thing to the next level.  I really love this story and these characters.  I can’t wait until I can share them with all of you.

I’m going to plug my YouTube Channel and my Author’s Page on Facebook here.  All of my live readings will be done on the Facebook page, so give it a like to stay up to date and to get notified when I go live.  The YouTube channel will host the recordings of those readings after the live reading is done.

All of this reading of poetry has also kickstarted my poetic muse, and I’ve been scribbling away.  Maybe I’ll come out the other side of this with a whole new book of poetry for you!

Stay safe, Readers!  And Happy April.  Let’s hope it isn’t as long as March was.

Cover Photo by Kasturi Roy on Unsplash

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poetry for quarantined souls

Earlier this week, I pulled a few of my poems out to share with the world via a Facebook live video.  I was crazy nervous, but in times like this it falls to the artistic people to keep the hopes of the people up, so I bit the bullet and did it.

I thought that maybe, if you don’t follow me over there, you might like to see it to, so here it is.  I hope to do another one later in the week.  I might even consider a reading from one of my novels, or possibly a work in progress.

(Cover Photo by Ksenia Makagonova on Unsplash)