These are strange days we live in.
Before the coronavirus took center stage, I thought the word “quarantine” was something for sci-fi stories regarding world-ending plagues. Now I’m under self-quarantine because I traveled on airlines last week.
I had been visiting Nicaragua.
I know…I know. I shouldn’t have been traveling given the state of the world. But in my defense, the news hadn’t been so dire in the days leading up to the trip. All the craziness seemed to pop up while I was away.
You don’t need me to tell you this virus has turned the world on end.
In Nicaragua, the government called for a mandatory march entitled “Love in a Time of Corona Virus.”
While other countries are trying to keep large groups from gathering, the Nicaraguan government decided to have all of its employees come together en masse. Thousands filling the streets and walking 11km through the city.
Interesting to say the least.
Now that I’m back from Nicaragua, I’m doing what most of the world is doing: staying cooped up at home.
One would think with all this free time and nowhere to go, writers would be super productive now. That might be the case for some. But for those of us with kids, it’s hard to find the space to write.
(Even while writing this post, I’ve been pulled away from the computer several times to quell a few squabbles and administer nap time.)
I had plans to finish my latest novel by the end of this month. I’m only a few chapters away from finishing, but it doesn’t look like I’m going to meet my deadline. There’s too much going on in this cramped space.
I could complain. I could gripe about the noise and lost routine. (In fact, I probably already do all of that when I’m not careful.) But this is life.
As much as we writers and creative thinkers like to get lost in the worlds inside our heads, we can’t divorce ourselves from the real world.
As one of my mentors once said to me, “We write from life.”
In history, times of crisis proved to be times of innovation and creativity. Penicillin and the internet were created out of times of war. As it’s been said, necessity is the mother of invention.
How will we look at our current time of crisis? As a threat to our routine? Or as a veiled opportunity?
Of course, we pray that those affected in the worst way have a swift recovery. But as writers and creative thinkers, we have a choice in how to address this time of crisis. How to be voices within this crisis. We can either grumble and complain. Or we can see what we can make from it.
I don’t have an answer on how to do this. All I can do is pray to God that he’ll show me how I can be a light during this time. This process of discovery is the essence of creativity.
Perhaps I won’t reach my deadline for my novel. But I can choose to learn from this experience and use it.
It’s a strange time we live in. May we all use it the best we can.
What have you been up to during this time of isolation? How have you been writing or using your creativity?
Please share in the comments below.