On May 24th I typed ‘THE END’ on the last page of the rough draft manuscript of my fourth novel.  I began writing last December and originally planned on completing the rough draft by November 1 – so I am 4 months ahead of schedule.  My goal was to write a draft of 70,000 words but the final product is 77,254 words. Staying safer at home has translated into being more creative at home.  I have written this work of fiction much faster than my three previous novels.  I don’t think that means I’m a better writer.  I think it’s because I had more time available for writing.

To be honest, I feel odd about reaching ‘the end’.  I felt sad about finishing the draft.  I plan on spending at least two months in self-editing before I turn it in to my editor Christine Keleny.

I’ve decided to not change my goal of publishing in April 2021.  The book is the life story of a pack horse librarian in Kentucky and I want the release to coincide with national library week 2021.
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For now, I’m going to take a week off from writing and editing.  I need to let this project ‘get cold’ so I can have a fresh look at it.  I don’t expect to change the story or the plot, I need to work on craft and weed out all of my little problems like to many “that’s”.
 
What has been your writing experience while being ‘safe at home?’  

This is day 78 of our self-imposed saver at home undertaking.  Before today I’ve experienced by brain turning to mush several times and I’ve found myself making more emotional decisions versus well thought out rational decisions.
Several weeks ago I wanted to more the lawn for the first time this spring.  Last fall my reliable Briggs and Stratton hummed right along.  It all began with fighting with this new fangled overprotective plastic gas can.  In an effort to fill the lawnmower the gap was not on correctly and I spilled gas all over my hands, the lawnmower and the cement driveway.

I yanked the pull cord and nothing happened.  The cord didn’t move an inch – an inch mind you.  The motor or starter or something was frozen up tight.  During the winter months I fantasized over buying a new self-propelled electric lawnmower – it NEVER needs maintenance.  After several weeks of research I dropped the idea because of the expense.  I had a working lawnmower – no need to spend good money on a different gadget.
 
My wife heard my moaning and came outside to learn what was causing me such pain.  She did fix the gas can so I could fill the lawnmower but watched me yank on the cord with no results.  As a good wife would she reviewed the starting instructions on front of the mower and then gave the cord a good tug to make sure I followed all the appropriate procedures.  She had the same result. 

She looked and me and said – buy the electric lawnmower you want it doesn’t matter what you spend.
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More beautiful words were never spoken. 

Wednesday May 20th.

Before I get out of bed every day I think about the current day and date.  Without this little mental exercise I lost track of both the date and day.  Loosing the day and date I felt adrift in a timeless world and it wasn’t comfortable.
I grew up in a family where time was important.  We lived our lives by a schedule.  Monday was wash day.  Tuesday was iron day.  Saturday was home project day – like lawn mowing and garage cleaning.  Sunday was church day.  Repeat.

During our Wisconsin “Stay-at-Home Order” a new phase has leaked into my lexicon – “We’ve got time.”  We have been exploring county parks for a little exercise and often the access to our county parks is less than straight forward so I suggest we drive around to find it because “we’ve got time.”

Our regular walks and hikes have extended to 60 minutes because “we have time”.  Plotting our once a week forage to the grocery store is like planning the Normandy invasion.  The exact day and time must be carefully planned to minimize contact with other old codger shoppers.  Our local Costco has an intricate serpentine route outside the store where you pick up cart.  The store opens at 8:00 am for we seniors but it’s often too cold to be standing in line.  We could get sick just from standing out in the Wisconsin freezing mornings.  But “we’ve got time”.  I clocked our visit to Costco – about 55 minutes – a new world record.  Don’t know why I bothered to time the excursion because “we’ve got time.”

All in all I’m finding that I like living in a “we’re got time” world.  It can be relaxing and puts activities in perspective.  I think when all this is over and in our collective rear view mirror I’ll still live life as “we’ve got time”.
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Do you still have time?     

​“Comus”
 
Was I deceived? or did a sable cloud
Turn forth her silver lining on the night.
John Milton 1634
 
The quote from John Milton’s poem Comus is believed to be the origin of the idiom:  every could has a silver lining.
 
I am an irrepressible optimist.  I began social distancing on March 11th with the World Health Organization’s announcement of a coronavirus pandemic.  Life has changed.  I am also gregarious so living at home is at best inconvenient but not a sacrifice.
I would like to share by yet incomplete list of things that have been a silver lining for me in our dark cloud of social isolation.
 
Learning to play virtual chess with my 9 year old grandson.
Learning to use zoom for virtual meetings.  What happened to skype?
Learning to raise succulents.
Having time to draft my fourth novel manuscript.
Birding
Playing ping pong with my cat, Ivy.
Reorganized the basement.
Reorganized the garage.
Having facetime with my family.
Starting plants in the basement for a spring victory garden.
Exploring county parks.
Daily walks.
Leading a virtual bookclub.
Experimenting with my insta pot.
Really taking one day at a time.
 
Thanks for letting me share.  What are your silver linings?
 

As ‘safer at home’ slogs on toward the end of May in Wisconsin I have noticed two things about my life.  First, I have developed a daily routine (more on that at another time).  Second, I am, with eyes wide open, adapting.
 
In the spring I often spend time outside birding.  I don’t recall how I became interested in birding but not I am hooked.  In years past I traveled to Ashland, Wisconsin for their annual birding festival.  The event was cancelled this year.  Rather than staying home we began making short birding trips within a 50 mile radius of home.  That was fine but it was not the great adventure we have become accustomed to.

My wife took the initiative to search for a cabin to rent in Iowa.  The Iowa rules differed from Wisconsin and allowed private lodging businesses to remain open if they could guarantee the six foot distancing rule.  She found a cabin (pictured) in McGregor, Iowa a short distance from the Mississippi.  The cabin had a kitchen, microwave, frig and all the regular stuff.  We took all our own food (which was, I admit, a minor hassle).

We arrived in mid-afternoon and sat on the deck.  From the deck we spotted 14 different species.  The most exciting was the red eyed vireo which doesn’t reside at home.  There was also a family of turkeys and deer who visited the cabin at dusk and early morning.  It was evident this was their regular schedule and our presence was not going to alter their routine.
 
We hiked in nearby Pike’s Peak State Park (not to be confused with the park of the same name in Colorado – Zebulon Pike got around and named everything he discovered after himself).  We also walked the city park in Prairie du Chien.
Not being at home was a great experience.  We had so much fun that we plan to take two of the grandkids back in July.
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Surviving ‘safer at home’ physically and mentally requires each of us to learn to adapt.  I recently watched a Smithsonian Channel program that demonstrated we homo sapiens have a brain designed to adapt which explains why we are here and not the Neanderthal’s.          
      

Both of my parents graduated from high school during the Great Depression.  The Depression molded their values and approach to life.  Dad got a job at a local water utility after high school.  He was smart – he graduated from high school at 16 because he skipped a grade.  His Dad was the manager of the local Kroger’s grocery store.  Granddad was told to re-locate to Rockford Illinois from Hobart, Indiana.  There was no choice – he moved the entire family – except my Dad.  Dad was the eldest, had a job and refused to move with the family.  Dad found a one room apartment and ate all of his meals at a local diner.  For the rest of his life Dad didn’t care for dining out – he had his fill as a young man.

I remember growing up that my Granddad ALWAYS wore a suit.  His white shirts were starched stiff and he wore a belt, not suspenders.  Even on a Saturday or Sunday when we visited the Rockford clan, grandpa wore a suit.  His shoes were always shined to see your face reflected.

My Dad always wore a suit with a fedora.  By the time I was born Dad was about 80% bald and did the famous comb over.  Also, by the time I was born he excelled at work and was an operations manager in the local utility.  He had 40 men report to him daily.  My father’s shirts weren’t starched because my mom was an expert at ironing.  I recall Dad having closet full of suits and various fedora’s.  He had a different hat for different seasons.  In the winter he wore a felt fedora, then he had one you could wear in the rain and for summer he had a straw fedora. 

One time after retiring Dad had an accident with the lawnmower and cut a finger.  He came into the house changed his shirt and trousers and then drove himself to the ER.

Dad taught me the proper way to polish shoes, hang pants in a closet, the proper way to tie a necktie.  As a young man I used the same after shave as Dad – Old Spice.  Dressing this way was his way of fighting back from the Depression.  It took me many years to understand why he dressed as he did.  Dad was making a statement – he was successful. 

I certainly don’t dress in that fashion.  In fact my usual garb is sweatshirt, jeans and sketchers.  Dad would be appalled – I’m comfortable.
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There is a point, during our social distancing it’s important to take care of ourselves.  I’ve trimmed my own hair, trim the beard every several days and of course wash hands frequently.  Do, do your best to keeping up appearances – you’ll be glad you did.            

​In my last job before retirement I worked for a health care organization during the H1N1 craze.  I volunteered to represent our organization for on local pandemic planning committee and I received hours of FEMA training.  The point is, I saw what would happen early on and began voluntary social distancing on March 11th.  I’ve been “distant” for 43 days.
 
I have been distanced long enough to get a bit snarly and things are irritating.  Of course, like many of you I have become addicted to the 24 hour news cycle.  I toggle between MSNBD, CNN, NBC and PBS.  Don’t ask me to explain this behavior, I can’t.
 
I have noticed an all too common speech pattern that now drives me crazy.  People begin any sentence with “Listen”.  Why do they say that.  I’m watching the news program, I don’t need to be told to listen or asked to listen,  I’m already doing that.  Adding “listen” to a sentence adds nothing and is irritating.
Worse is that many add “right” to the end of their comments.  My guess is that they are seeking approval or agreement with what they have just said.  Well, they can’t know if I agree or not when I’m sitting in my living room and even if I could respond, I wouldn’t.
 
So, I would like to propose that everyone in tv land immediately cease from using the words “listen” and “right”.  Those words will not be missed and I may regain what little sanity I had before this mess started.   

Way back in 2020 the genius Steve Jobs invented facetime on apple products.  It allowed people to connect on their phones and laptops and have a real time conversation.

The concept was later expanded to android phones and computer equipment and was dubbed “video calls” – a really boring name.  Facetime is much more appealing.

During our health crisis I have come to rely on time with my grandchildren on video calls.  I use a program called Duo which my oldest son taught me to use.  Now the whole family uses it. 

This is a miracle technology and has kept me sane during this period of social isolation.  I’m in the group at high risk because I have underlying conditions.  I have been VERY careful.

Without this technology life would be hell.  As I aged I’ve found myself slower to adapt to technology and frankly not pay a lot of attention to new things available to me.  It wasn’t until this crisis that I learned about Duo and video calling.
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So, out of the crisis I have learned a lesson.  I need to pay attention to what’s going on.  Become familiar with changes in technology and determine if it fits in my life and may even improve my life.
My next challenge – noise cancelling headphones.
 
p.s. For the record when I downsized last year I got rid of my dvd player and donated my cd’s to St. Vincent de Paul.  

I am a calendar guy.  Back in 8-5 days I read The Seven Habits of Highly Effective People by Stephen Covey.  Who wouldn’t want to be highly effective?  I still do.  From this book I learned how to use a calendar to organize my life.

Yes, I make lists of goals and tasks but those lists don’t have any meaning until they show up on my calendar.  I use my calendar for EVERYTHING -  deadlines; meetings; birthdays; anniversaries; writing goal; when to take out the recycling and trash receptacles; my day for grocery shopping; picking up meds at Walgreens.  I keep my calendar on my phone so that it is with me at all times.

As cornovirus spread the rules for social activity became more draconian by the day.  At first events of 250 people were cancelled; then 200 then it plummeted to 50 then 10.  The final step was to just stay home only go out among people for food and medicine.
With each guideline I removed items from my calendar – meetings, my grandson’s birthday, doctor appointments.  Nothing took these items place and my calendar was filled with white space.  White space became a metaphor for an empty life.
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I have developed a fear of white space.  I hope I can begin filling in those spaces soon and get my life back.