Wow, the month of May slid by and here I sit, looking back and wondering what happened to all that time. Time seems particularly slippery during these shelter-in-place months. Back in March, I thought I would get so much done . Let's just say it didn't work out as I'd planned. Time doesn't stop while sheltering in place. Image by xaviandrew from Pixabay As I write this, my mind wanders to various musical pieces that have to do with the passage of time. The first few songs that come to mind are some personal favorites: George Harrison's All Things Must Pass   Simon and Garfunkle's A Hazy Shade of Winter   The Beatles' A Day in the Life   Pink Floyd's Time   Oh, let's not forget As Time Goes By  from the movie Casablanca . This leads me to wonder if there might be lists of songs that have "time" as a theme or element. Time for research! Here's some of what I found (the first two lists have embedded YouTube videos so...

Covid-19 has, if not forced, then inspired us to find new ways to fill our at-home time. There are a lot of things I need to do, like clean out closets and drawers, but I just don’t have the energy to do that. Besides, I’ll wear that sweater again sometime. I’m sure I will. That style is making a comeback. I’ve always used the library, whether for audios when I take a trip or books to read at home that I don’t have to buy to fill my already overflowing bookcases. I have books I’ve bought through the years that I haven’t yet read, but I love my Kindle and prefer reading on it. Now the library has become the go-to place to read books by downloading from Overdrive. My library gives us fourteen days to read our chosen work. My friend and I have been storming through Robert Crais’s Elvis Cole/Joe Pike series. Fortunately, there are eighteen books in the series. A couple of the early books aren’t available to download from Amazon on my Kindle because of their format, but I’ve been abl...

With shelter-in-place orders in effect, many of us have more time than usual on our hands. This is yet another example of the way time rules our lives from the moment of birth until we draw our last breath. Each day, it dictates the frame in which we must work or play or laugh or cry or engage in any activity to get the most (or the least) from that fixed period. Some might say time imprisons us. Others may argue it sets us free. We all have perceptions of time based on our needs, our experiences, our views of life. My view of time has changed dramatically over the  years. For example, it now differs significantly from when I was six months old. At that age, clocks and days meant nothing. I could express my hunger or frustration or discomfort equally well at 2 a.m. or 2 p.m., or any time in between. It was simply time to eat, time for a diaper change, time for comfort, time for relief from my bellyache, and so on. At age six years, I entered the time zone. School started a...

I have been in quarantine for months, both because I am at risk and because I have been ill (but no proof it is COVID). Luckily, we are "retired," so there is nowhere we have to be other than doctor appointments (telehealth now), and the pharmacy. I have to give props to all of the books, movies, and streaming stories for keeping me sane. I read the entire Poldark saga books. Reread all of Anna Huber's The Anatomist's Wife series. Several Carol Goodman books. Cinda Chima Williams fantasy Seven Realms and Shattered Realms series, Deanna Raybourn's Veronica Speedwell series, and the Ash Princess series by Laura Sebastian just to name a few. TV series are too many to list.  As I wrote about in Story Building Blocks: The Four Layers of Conflict , most stories follow a comforting, expected flow. There are variations on the theme but they go something like this: A problem presents, characters are forced to do something about it. Things go wrong, creating new...

I hope everyone is staying safe and keeping well. My thoughts go out to all those on the front lines (and their loved ones) putting themselves at risk of infection to help others, and also to anyone who has been affected first hand by the virus. Image by Ryan Richie , via Flickr For some, staying safe at home has meant hitting pause on many of their usual day-to-day activities, and I know that some of my own friends have had to come up with novel ways to keep busy (i.e., entertain themselves) without leaving the house. But, for me, the past few months have passed in a blur as I have raced against the clock to publish my latest book, The Convoluted Key - while at the same time (like many other parents during this Covid-19 pandemic) finding myself unexpectedly and unpreparedly pitched into the role of homeschooling mother and children's personal assistant (and trying to avoid allowing my children's daily dose of screen time to increase by too much). Request an advanc...

"Dost thou love life? Then do not squander time; for that’s the stuff life is made of."                      Poor Richard’s Almanac June 1746 Pixabay So here we are, many of us reluctant to get out in the world even if government and/or health officials are relaxing restrictions on retail stores and personal care services (with proper masks and social distancing, of course). I’m one of the reluctant ones, being of a certain age and all. Others, perhaps younger and anxious to get back to work, or living alone and feeling the stress of isolation, or even just eager to get a haircut and color, crave the freedom to get out of their homes and get on with life. Can we have both safety and freedom? I do hope so, but when I see large numbers of people out and about, a shoulder-touch apart and no masks, I get scared. I’m afraid that belligerence will come back and bite people in the form of COVID-19. I don’t want to be one of them...

We are made of strong stuff. We will endure. Those are strong, hopeful statements that I hang on to as I'm navigating the current situation with COVID19 and the stay-at-home practices that I need to be very mindful of. I'm in two of those high-risk categories; age and underlying health conditions, so I'm aware of how important it is to stay away from people. This has included avoiding my family, which is the hardest part of all. I love my animals, but living alone can be, well, very lonely. To keep me away from grocery stores, my kids do most of my shopping, and they come occasionally to do a chore that I can't do. Well, actually, I could, but the kids don't want me climbing up a ladder to change furnace filters.  But while they are here, we stay six-feet apart. We don't hug. We're such a demonstrative, hugging family that it feels extremely weird for any of my kids to walk back out the door, and we haven't even touched. Human touch is so imp...

I have to admit, the Covid-19 pandemic hasn’t changed my life very much. In early March, my husband and I were visiting family in Savannah. I came home for a meeting and a mystery panel at a local library. Both my events were canceled. I’d left my husband in Savannah with the grandkids, so I was alone for three weeks. During that time, I finished a book I’d been writing on and off for a couple of years. I went through it again, edited, then sent it to my editor. We're still trying to make it the best it can be. Except for not going to the grocery store or meeting friends for lunch, life went on as usual. I had plenty of food, and because I’d recently bought paper products in bulk, I wasn’t in dire need of anything. During this time I was alone, I watched less cable news—depressing, watched the Amazon series, Hunters, with Al Pacino—somewhat depressing, read more, worked on my writing, and traded critiques with my long-time critique partner. The house was eerily quiet. My neighbor...

We've had a number of great articles this month on ways COVID-19 and multi-state stay-at-home orders have affected our lives. We also have an impressive list of books from the past that address the devastating consequences of worldwide pandemics. My post will explore how our current health crisis can affect our writing. I find today's world situation to be alarming, even terrifying. The massive loss of life, critical illnesses, overwhelmed medical services, and resulting instability of the world's economy are indeed unnerving, as well as heartbreaking. While we see numerous acts of courage, of love, of reaching out to help others who are often strangers, there's a dark side to that coin. We also see horrific acts of intentionally exposing people working in essential jobs to whatever germs or viruses those perpetrators may be carrying, such as by coughing and spitting on workers who risk their health and lives so we can continue to buy groceries, medicines, etc. W...

With writing conferences and workshops cancelled or postponed for the time being, why not join a virtual conference or an online writing community in the meantime. Here are some we've found. If we've left out any of your favorites, add them in the comments. Hurry if you want to sign up for these free Coursera courses, starting today : Coursera Advanced Writing Apr 16 2020 Coursera Script Writing: Write a Pilot Episode for a TV or Web Series (offered by Michigan State University) Apr 16  2020 Also free are Gotham Writers' Friday Night Zoom Write-Ins , with the next one tomorrow . April 17 2020 Writers' Digest Agent One-on-One: First 10 Pages Boot Camp Apr 23rd 2020 – Apr 27th 2020 Jane Friedman's WD Webinar on How to Blog Meaningfully and Grow Your Audience May 1st 2020 WDU Annual Science Fiction & Fantasy Virtual Conference May 15th 2020 – May 18th 2020 Writers' Studio Online Courses Workshops in Fiction Level 1 classes start on either ...

"It was the best of times; it was the worst of times." Charles Dicken's words have never been more relevant as we endure a worldwide pandemic with widespread quarantines and stay at home orders. I have read a many dystopian novels and it certainly feels like we are living in one. In most dystopian novels, humans survive. Whether we continue to thrive or wither is on us. It can bring out the best in people, and the worst. Here is a list of ten books inspired by outbreaks. 1 .  Andromeda Strain   (1970) by Michael Crichton is by far the scariest tale I remember from my childhood. Images of people dissolving into dust stuck with me. A military space probe brings microbes back to earth, setting off an outbreak. Scientists race to understand and contain the threat. They keep it secret with total news blackouts. Of course back then we didn't have 24/7 news feeds or social media. I never looked at our space missions the same way again. 2 .  A Journal of the Plag...

"Plague time" fell down on me like a domino run: first, cancelled exercise classes, then on-site work was restricted, then shelter-in-place throughout first the county and then the state so everyone would STAY PUT. From there, it was a frantic race as organizations, businesses, friends, and family set up virtual meetings for nearly every aspect of life.  I now attend Zumba on Zoom, participate in work meetings with WebEx and Microsoft Teams, take part in a weekly Feldenkrais body awareness class that uses Jitsi, and attend virtual critique meetings on Google Hangouts Meet. For family and friends, we use whatever folks are most comfortable with, usually FaceTime, Zoom, or Meet. My mind is a whirl as I try to keep it all straight. It's like going zero to sixty in—wait, I have to look up how quick the the fastest cars can accelerate —two-plus seconds. It's ludicrous. (And who knew Tesla made a model called the Model S P100D Ludicrous+ model ??) Anyhow, it has b...

Often publications that do best-of series use a format of short bullet points: The best movies, the best books, the best food, etc, All with short lists of what the editors considered listing at the top for the last year or for the last decade. Here at the Blood-Red Pencil, we've been going a little more in-depth with what we consider the best for the past decade in terms of benefiting the writer, and perhaps the best to use going forward with our writing. For instance, we're looking at the best writers websites, the best writers resources, the best instructional books, and... Well, you get my drift. Here are some of what I consider the best instructional and inspirational websites for writers. I'd be remiss in not mentioning that the Blood-Red Pencil has a wealth of information and advice , but there are a few other blogs and websites I visit frequently. The first, and perhaps my favorite, is Writer Unboxed . I've been a fan of that website for a number of ...

What marvelous fiction are you reading to help you get through the world pandemic?

For me, the only thing that gives me pause is going to the grocery store. I feel like the guy in this photo as I’m approaching the doors to go in. Pixabay This month on the Blood-Red Pencil, we’re going to journal a few of our thoughts and activities, (pondering the sudden way life changed on us as well as what make us feel awful and what lifts our spirits), sharing anecdotes, posting photos of how we occupy our minds and keep our bodies fit, and asking you to share your feelings and activities if you wish. My last trip to the supermarket left me with two resolves: 1) Don’t go back unless I’m wearing a mask, and 2) Just get stuff delivered whenever possible. I shopped at 7 AM to take advantage of the senior shopping hours, but I found not everyone is happy with that. As I was loading my groceries in the trunk, a younger and apparently seriously uninformed lady was getting back in her car, screaming, “I’ll find another store to shop at. I’m sure there are plenty of stores who...

All month we've shared our favorite hacks and gadgets, and I admit I've watched closely to see if any grabbed my particular interest. I've tried a few gadgets and apps in the past few years, but none have held my attention for very long. As the days of March passed, I realized that next to my laptop, the one gadget I use most is my Kindle Fire. Of course, I use it for the obvious reason - to buy ebooks! My most recent acquisition was this book by Becky Clark. It's an engaging and helpful read, and I'll probably review it here soon. Eight Weeks to a Complete Novel I don't just read ebooks from Amazon though. I soon discovered the Overdrive collection at my library, so now do most of my reading and research by checking out e-Library books. I love their format, and the fact that I can read online or download to the Kindle. And I can make recommendations for the library to add new books, including the latest from my blog team. Recently the library added Ann ...