Pandemic reality hit us all in mid-March! A few days into the stay-at-home order, I got a kick out of a tweet about the week having only three days now: Yesterday, Today and Tomorrow. Still true as of this writing. Two months later, like most of us, I’m ready for some normalcy again.  Unfortunately, we can’t predict what the “new normal” will be or when it will finally arrive.

Looking on the bright side, which is not generally my strong suit, COVID-19 has been a blessing in disguise for my writing. Suddenly, I have all kinds of time to write. No schedules to follow or tasks to complete. No excuses not to hunker down in front of my computer, located in my tiny office in the maid’s room situated in a remote corner of our vintage apartment. Slightly larger than Harry Potter’s quarters under the staircase in his Muggle home.

My first fiction manuscript, The Walk-On, took eleven years to complete. Family and career responsibilities allowed only fits, starts, and spurts of creative writing. Actually, complete isn’t accurate. I’ll be revising the query and manuscript until I find the agent who believes in the story like I do.

My work in progress, written with Crown Media Publishing and the Hallmark Channel in mind, was supposed to be completed for their February 2019 open submission. The manuscript wasn’t even close. I plodded along, aiming for open submission in the fall. I was disappointed, and a bit relieved, when they didn’t have one. I thought constantly about Matt and Shelby, but couldn’t get their Christmas story on paper. A paragraph here, some dialogue there. Rinse, repeat! Lots of frustration, but no real progress. I had to keep my nose to the security consulting grindstone to pay the bills.

Now, with so much time and nowhere I have to (or can) be, my page count has exploded from 120 to 245. I’m writing most of the day — maybe too much some days and late nights — and only have about four chapters to go until the trademark Hallmark kiss in a gazebo somewhere under a starlit sky.

My new goal is to finish the first draft before I return to the day job working under new, and not so normal conditions. Will I make it? Stay tuned…stay healthy…stay safe!