Plague and Procrastination...#covid #writing #amwriting #WritingCommunity #Readers #Reading #ReadingCommunity

 

Blank Pages Mocking Me

Well it happened, Dear Reader. The plague has struck our house in the form of two wee boys. The youngest turned 8 on Friday and had a positive test on Monday. What a way to celebrate! The 11 yr old promptly joined in the fun. Symptoms ranged from sick tummies to hacking coughs with a few brief periods between where they felt ok. Thankfully both have had one vaccination so far which seems to mitigate the affliction. 
The adults, including my 89 year old mother remain clear, so far. Antigen tests are being done with what we Irish all a "Flaithulach" attitude, meaning extravagant. I can't wait two days to test, it's every morning and just be grateful I'm not making ye do it every afternoon too. To add to my misery, I have a raging sore throat which is either the dreaded Covid or the antigen test has pushed my general sinus lurgy into my throat. Take your pick,
Of course enforced isolation should mean that I've got lots done. Hah! Goes to show what you know. OF COURSE I've procrastinated like a dithering hen. I find the fact of covid in the house stressful, and 90% of my brain is engaged in resolutely not thinking about all the horror stories of kids in hospital on ventilators. I have two books to work on right now, fiction and non-fiction, and what do I go and do? Start writing a Caroline Jordan Short Story for Valentine's Day. The Case of the Spearheaded Bog Spider is coming soon, unless I test positive in which case I'll be too busy cursing and wailing in the back garden. Fun, either way,
To inspire me I've been playing around with Doodly, a gift from my beloved Mr. I panicked a bit at first, I just couldn't see past the initial learning curve, but thanks to his calm explanation, I have managed to create a rough but not-too-bad video. I'll share it on here later. I'd work on the podcast/vlog but the STATE of me today, no one wants to see this level of swamp-witch. This isn't procrastination, it's an act of charity.
Hope this finds you all plague free and productive but for those who are neither, you are my people. I salute you. 

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The final Stretch - when the end of the first draft is in sight! #writing #WritingCommunity #TheBodyCount #CrimeFiction #Mystery

 After days of frantic writing, a wonderful and miraculous thing has happened. All the messy plot points began to resolve themselves into a coherent narrative and in 6 chapters I've gone from flailing around to writing the end of the book. There's a chapter or three to go yet, but I know who the murderer is and I know why. I have two subplots to tie up. and a few loose ends will need to be sharply snipped but the end is in sight!

If I can pull this off in the next 7 days, I will actually be in position to start revising almost immediately. Ah yes, the joys of writing. You slave to get the words on the page and then ruthlessly slash and burn your way through them. How far do you trust your own voice over the received wisdom of editors? How much do you adjust to fit a genre, or do you forge ahead with your own, not quite fitting in vision?

That's all next week's problem. For now I'm just happy to say, I've entered the home stretch. See ye at the finish line!

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Bedside Manners ~ #Alzheimers and the #FamilyCarer a new #poemseries

Bedside Manners:Alzheimers and the Family Carer is a poem series exploring the relationship the Family Carer has with Alzheimer's - both the person for whom they care and the larger issue of the disease itself and how it affects every aspect of life.

The role of the carer is often interpreted by outsiders, framed in martyrdom or judged for any perceived heresy to the doctrine of self sacrifice. What carers find most difficult is often the refusal of others to acknowledge their loss, pain, frustration, stress and responsibility.

When we complain, the reaction is often one of denial - a rush to tell us how it's the disease, not the person or how privileged we are to be able to provide home care, how awful it would be if we were to put them in a home and so forth. Spoiler Alert - we KNOW it's the disease. Also we are the ones giving up our lives to care for the person, please don't tell us how it's a privilege.

These poems are based on personal experience and that of other family carers of loved ones with dementia.

They cover a range of experiences from heartbreak to hilarity, moments where we are lost and ones where we find profound meaning.

Each is accompanied on Insta by a fuller explanation, again directly taken from discussion with other family carers. Every poem is based on lived experience of caring for a relative, rather than professionals in the field, or advocacy groups.

BESIDE MANNERS is a series on twitter @gercelt with fuller exploration of each theme on Instagram @gercelt. If you want to add to anything said please do, 

Feel free to share (credit either Geraldine Moorkens Byrne or link to @gercelt) if you have writing to add (from personal experience only please) I'll happily link to it or you can guest post on Insta or Twitter. There is a hope that the full series may make a book to raise funds for Alzheimer's Research.

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