This is a Pandemic, Not a Writing Retreat by Diane Bator

Yay! My new Sugarwood Mystery book came out June 1st! (Click on the cover to order Drop Dead Cowboy!)

On June 10, I was supposed to be taking my oldest son Nick, who is turning 25 this month, out to Alberta and B.C. to spend time with my brother Darryl, who is turning 50. Pretty memorable milestones but we won't be celebrating the way we wanted to be. This year, I will have to send them both love from a distance. Of course we planned to see other family and drive through the Rockies from Edson to Osoyoos, but that will have to wait.

There are so many things we haven't been able to do over the past several months. Of all the things I've really noticed is that my creative process took a holiday for the first seven weeks. Hearing those great words "this is a pandemic, not a writing retreat" helped. As much as we're isolated and some of us alone (except for a couple of cats who are starting to get on my nerves!) we're all dealing with the same situation.

What does my creative process look like right now?

Since I struggled to write for so many weeks, I turned to a previous addiction. Counted Cross Stitch. I've done many over the years until my kids got older and I focused my time on writing more than other pursuits. This one is called Sandcastle Dreams and it was kind of fun to take pictures every time I worked on it and share them on Instagram. No one else knew what the picture would look like, which made it even more fun.

  

Lucky for me, I have another one squirreled away and will start that one soon.

As for writing, I've been working from home since mid-March so my days begin with a few phone calls and emails as well as a daily Zoom chat. After that, I started off staring at the walls feeling numb. Once the wave of numbness passed, I began to listen to writing and other videos. It gave me a sense of camaraderie to hear how other authors and playwrights felt the same way. Slowly, I regained my sense of self.

I discovered I can attend virtual meetings that I could never attend in person due to scheduling. I am even attending a Left Coast Crime event this Saturday that I wouldn't have attended. Though I talked to other writers and listened to their stories, I just couldn't get back to writing my own.

Then I took a bath.

Suddenly, this character took over the second book in my Glitter Bay series and I couldn't stop her! She wasn't my original main character, Laken, but her sister Sage who has become my protagonist for All that Shines. Within two weeks, I'm on Chapter 7 and still going.

Since my routine has been altered, I've decided to make my time work for me without putting as much pressure on myself as I used do. I get up when the cats tell me it's time to get out of bed--usually by seven o'clock--then have coffee and breakfast while they go back to sleep. I do my work in the morning while my older cat, part Siamese, walks around me meowing because he wants my full attention, or to go outside, or a treat...  After lunch, if it's not nearly 40 degrees Celsius and my shoes won't melt on the sidewalk, I'll take a brisk walk before I sit down to write, listen to a lecture or two, read a book, or work on my website or the newsletter I'm struggling to set up.

Currently, I'm reading before bed every night to take my mind off the day's events. I have a huge stack of books from writers I've met and work with so reviews are due when I'm done each one. That's not a bad thing. In times like these, we all need to help each other and give each other what support we can.

How are you all faring?
Are you reading, writing, or have you found other creative outlets to keep your hands busy?
I'd love to hear about it.
Whatever you're doing, stay out of trouble and have fun!

Diane Bator
https://bookswelove.net/bator-diane/

http://penspaintsandpaper.com

http://dbator.blogspot.ca/

Creativity by Katherine Pym

I am a Seattleite. I wasn't born there, but when I stepped out of the airport, I knew I'd come home. In the winter, the Northwest is like a great big wine cellar, cool, damp, with grey skies from October to almost the 4th of July.

The grey skies spit water; the streets are like film-noire after WW2, and being so far north, the skies are dark most of the time. People go to work in the dark and go home in the dark. As soon as the clouds disperse, and a little sun shines, people run outside and take deep breaths. They don shorts, socks, and sandals, t-shirts; then over all this, throw on a hoodie. As the skies brighten toward summer, everyone goes out to play. The days are longer, the dawn and dusk taking their sweet time to ease into full day or night.

In the Northwest, there's not much you can do in the winter but endure. Movies, the mall, bookstores, television. When the rain drips and forms puddles in the roads, plumps up moss so that you feel as if you're slogging through a swamp, I retreat into a world of make-believe.

Praying for Creativity

This summer the Northwest was wonderful. Blue skies and long days, warm enough to rival America's warmer states. We grew bushels of tomatoes, green beans and peppers. During this time, I became distracted, couldn't keep focused. I stared at my computer screen wondering why. My work in progress slipped. It became dull, disorganized. I was getting frustrated.

My husband is a Texan. Where I can endure the Northwest, long winters, he cannot. We have a little homestead in Texas, and toward the end of September, we piled into the car and drove the nearly 2400 miles to our cabin in the woods. Rain dogged us across the nation, but once we arrived, the skies were blue, the weather warm, and the bugs were swarming. Husband was thrilled. I was still disorganized, my writing dull.

Through my disorganization, I lost touch with the story line. Stephen King says a writer should finish the first draft within a 3 month time span. I fell deeply short of that, so I decided I'd start over my work in progress. Re-read. Re-write. The skies were beautifully blue, the days warm. Idyllic. My work went slowly.

Awhile ago our local news said a hurricane from the Pacific was plowing across Mexico toward the Lone Star State. Warm, moist air from the Gulf of Mexico poured over us, and a cold front from the North would clash with all these moist airflows. Storms would ensue with thunder and lightning. High winds. The temperature would plummet from the pleasing high 70’s/mid 80’s to unseasonable cold.

OMG, a weather event! Last year, the area had such a downpour, it dropped almost 14 inches onto our roof. It swept part of our driveway into the road. Others were flooded out. My Seattle experiences held nothing to this. We prepared for the worst. Still in shorts, I put on socks and slipped my feet into sandals.

For several days, the clouds dimmed the bright sunshine. Rain fell almost nonstop, but not the gully-washer of last year. This rain was a constant heavy drizzle. Big drops from the overhead trees plopped onto my head and shoulders. Steady. The air was cool, refreshing.

Couldn't go outside and play. Had to endure. Watching the skies drip, I reflected we lived in an over-sized wine cellar, but we had no wine. It was too wet to go out and buy some. We'll wait for the skies to clear.

Still in socks and sandals, I dug out my hoodie to walk the dog. Typed on my computer one and a half chapters. Researched and wrote a blog. Offered to write two more. Then a light bulb flashed in my eyes. An Epiphany struck. OMG, the rain outside was my type of weather. Like Seattle! It sparked and fed my creativity. I found myself back in the saddle again. 

My creativity glows when the weather is dull. How cool is that?

 http://bookswelove.net/pym.php