This thing has gotten to everyoone

This past Monday, spoke to shopkeepers, co-workers, friends, acquaintances, even exes, and detected that the pandemic has turned things into a longer-standing "fuckaroo", to quote Stephen King's Dreamcatcher (stellar beginning, in that novel BTW).  

This thing has ground them down, whether they are weathering bitter divorce, loneliness, anxiety, grief, depression, panic or isolation, and ossifying sadness, defeatist views, even  an inability to compromise after being solitary for so long.

But light is coming through the cracks. Vaccinations, if you are lucky enough, are happening. Socializing is slowly expanding, but exhausting (we are not used to it). Pace yourself.

Treat yourself as you would others, but better. Try to be there for your peeps. If you can, reach out. Send a word-kind, encouraging, loving or event titillating, or give hope.

This thing has gotten to everyone. I might go into more detail later, with whys and wherefores, but the philosophy remains the same. Hold on tight, all.

For my part, I will be camping with my inner circle this weekend. I will be trying to moderate my tendencies even while all the opportunities for two of the three P's (my bad habits) but will have no restraints save those I apply. It is a well-deserved break, but all the planning and interpersonal interactions with friends leading up to it can get pretty little stressed until we land on the site. I am trying to keep this all in perspective. There are much greater problems than planning a camping trip with friends.

Wednesday's bright notes in Covid

I have been dealing with the highs and lows of stress and anxiety in the house through a variety of means, some better than others.

My healthier coping mechanisms include consistent stretching and push-up and sit-ups, as well as walks, and a regular viewing of films of interest and reading of promising comic books.

Still, it seems that despite my best efforts to overindulge in habits that I will not go into detail about here, I find continued success, which seems to surprise no one but me.

After I complained bitterly about my recent egregious short-fiction rejections in a post (that I have since pulled), there have been significant developments. Chief among them is my publisher having a quick video-chat with me yesterday, on Canada Day, to deliver good news. Turns out that a short-fiction collection, which I am currently proofreading for him, earned a rave, advance review in an influential publication in the writing business. My publisher wanted to thank me for helping with this collection and was emphatic that I get working on his edits to my short-story collection, Fear Itself, due out this fall.

In addition, the day previous, I managed, despite feeling desultory about my day’s results, to accomplish a number of things. I rescheduled an upcoming appointment with my psychologist. Cancelled a weird extra vaccination booking that I was texted about (I suspect that someone put down my cell number by mistake, as I already have a second vaccination booked, and a week sooner). Even managed to organize our son's guitar lessons so that he has the summer off.

Spent some solid time on Track-Changes revisions to my second horror novel. I am going through a scene-by-scene clean-up of the manuscript, putting any remaining notes, etc. in a chart, and smoothing out all the rough spots and accepting all consequences to my revisions throughout the story.

Also, spent some time considering the edits to my short story in my short-fiction collection about a phantasm in London, England, listening to my editor and publisher’s input. So, much to ponder! More or less, the ghostly figure in the story needs to pay some sort of price for returning and talking with the protagonist. I agree with that, and I agree that the ghostly figure is a little too perfect, which is no surprise, since they are modelled on my mentor from high school. What the story needs is a little pizzazz, and I trust it to reveal the answer to me in whatever way it wishes.

As well, I also spent some time proofing a short-fiction collection, the very one being praised in advance. I had already edited various drafts of the included novelette, for which the author is quite grateful. At the time of this posting, this review is not public knowledge and will only become so next week, hence my vagueness.