Are you familiar with this saying (or something similar)? I have been spending a considerable amount of my wakeful life noticing that some of my writerly peers are and have been able to produce work during this time of global upheavals and I have not, or at least my work is dribbling along while theirs seems to be gushing out of them like a full-throttle fire hose. And thus, I have consigned myself to a self-made purgatory, as if life isn’t tough enough right now.

Then I watched an episode of Vox Tox (if you haven’t seen them, I highly recommend them). These are musings and commentary by Sandi Toksvig, a remarkably astute, insightful, and funny individual, who said she was having difficulty working on her current project (a play) because of all that was going on in the world. For some quirky, inexplicable reason, hearing Sandi say that eased my conscience and soothed my beleaguered soul.

No, I have not taken myself off the hook completely, to dwell in my imagination surrounded by my characters would be bliss right now. The best I can do is be kind and patient with myself. I recommend this course of action to you as well. Not that you asked me, but the alternative is bleak in the extreme. Take good care.