A writer friend reminded me that as different as these last
few months have been, for many of us they were more the same as the
pre-pandemic world.
Because books are books, and stories are stories, and the
things that matter are very much the same.
But the publishing world is trying to access what is
different, not what is as before. As they do so, those of us who want to be
published are swinging in the breeze of changing winds.
To that end, I’d love to hear from others. Have you found
that you are reading/watching differently? Have your book-buying habits
changed? If you could rule the publishing world, what do you wish you could
find on virtual shelves?
Maybe the most surprising thing, for me, is that at the
height of the rapid closures and public tension I found it hard to focus on
reading or writing original stories. But shortly after, (shortly here means about
eight weeks) the ability to be a reader and also a writer returned with aplomb.
What about you?
5 comments:
Mirka, I'm so glad you're able to read and write again. And now it being school season, perhaps you'll get back into the seasonal flow.
I found myself more interested in reading apocalyptic fiction and nonfiction and writing light-hearted stories. Also, I'm withdrawing with the plethora of online activities.
I've been reading a lot more related to racism. That's influenced my reading choices more than the pandemic. As for writing, my mind has frozen on that since the pandemic.
I think it took me a couple of months to get back into reading/writing fiction too. I've been drawn to a lot of comfort reading, which for me is often historical fiction or classics. I've also read a couple biographies over the summer that really helped me cope, because people in the past lived harder lives than us.
I've actually had more ideas and been more prolific and focused on my own writing lately. I think part of staying home more and less activities is that I have less distractions. And that has actually been helpful to me as a writer.
From the middle of March to early June, I could hardly read anything and I don't think I wrote anything besides a couple of articles that I had committed to pre-pandemic. Anything I did read or watch, I wanted to just escape, so it was a lot of lighter, romance type stuff that I normally don't read a lot of. Once the kiddos were done with virtual learning in the spring, I had that itch to write again, so I started getting up early with a friend to write virtually together. I was surprisingly productive. Now that school is back in session, I'm having trouble getting my footing in a new schedule. I'm trying to be patient with myself, and have still committed to one morning a week of writing with my friend. I suppose only time will tell what habits will stay with us and what ones will be temporary.
Oddly enough, I can't say my reading habits have changed much. I still read mostly middle-grade fiction (that's what I write) on Kindle. Occasionally, I will order a book on Amazon. Writing hasn't changed much either. The only difference is that I spend more time on the computer working rather than meeting people face-to-face.
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