Author R.A. Gasparac

With the Corvid-19 Pandemic, I cannot help but see the silver lining. I have been afforded the gift of time. Did I spend all this time actively plugging away at my writing? Absolutley not.

At first this concept irked me until I realized that as writers we cannot spend every second actively working on our writing. I am aware I have touched on this subject before, but the pandemic has highlighted this fact for me. It is reinforced by the breaks between active work.

An empty cup cannot quench anyone’s thirst. My constant plugging away was doing more harm than good. I let my days of action and inaction happen as they may. Here is what I learned about my writers brain.

The first phase of being gifted with time was most efficiently used as a vacation from my writing career. I suffered from the day to day hustle, and the stress it causes. I had to get that stress out of my system before I could be useful to myself and my writing. I had to remember how to take deep breaths again without my negative inner talk saying, “You should be writing.”

The second phase was stepping back and taking an objective look at my writing career, and what was and wasn’t feasible. Were my timelines unrealistic? Everyone wants to be a bestselling author – but you have to have a plan to get there. I also planned out how I can keep myself from being discouraged, and fighting the urge to give up before I began.

I am currently in the third phase, the tornado of action. Surprisingly enough, the calmest period I have been in quite some time. I sat down and made some difficult choices about where to focus my energy while I still have this time, and how I will be able to incorporate it after ‘normal life’ resumes.

My next phase is going to be how to stay focused in a post Corvid-19 world once my days become more prominently day job oriented. My hope is that I built a satisfactory foundation I can build upon later. While my day job pays my bills, I like other writers want to support myself on my writing. I hope to carry over the balance in what I am most passionate about.