Emergency Blog Post

This not the usually monthly blog post. This is a special bonus one. An emergency one.

Kids, we are in the middle of a global pandemic. For those of you vaguely aware of the passage of time, it is May! I wanted to tell you: You have my permission not to be productive. 

This crap is depressing. We’re engaging in behaviors we’ve trained ourselves not to. Self isolation, staying home and not going out, covering half of our faces when we go out, staying six feet away from other humans when we definitely know we’re supposed to be touched! Or at least we’re worth standing a foot away from to have a conversation.

Not only that, but our workplaces, our favorite restaurants, our favorite shops downtown are in danger. And if we touch our faces at the grocery store Grandma will get the plague. Last but not least, if we’re lucky enough to be quarantined with someone we love we are certainly… Begging for space. 

I am so proud of you for bearing it all. You’re hanging in there. You’re staying tough. Whether you’re essential or not. Whether you’ve been laid off, or you’re gutting your PTO. Whether you’re working, or not. I am proud of you.

You absolutely have my permission to take a break and not make something cool. I saw this image 

in my feed. Unfortunately, I do not have information about the artist.

The bloody world is on fire! You don’t have to do anything more than survive! If making a book is going to overwhelm you don’t do it! If making a book is going to provide you with solace and escapism, then by all means: write the damn book! 

This is not the perfect time to write! The perfect time to write is waking up out of a dead sleep at 3am, next to your lover, and you shout “I’ve got it!” And you proceed to tell them “You are my muse.” As they stand over you, you, scribbling words in your mother tongue on some scratch paper that wasn’t important until now, and they think Wow, what a magnificent human being.

Art needs life to sustain itself. This is a weird and frightening time. One where we’re just supposed to sit in our houses and wait for the boogie man to go away. This isn’t easy and it certainly isn’t fun! It’s okay if you don’t feel like making an entire book. You have my permission to rest.

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