Everything will be okay. Right? Right?

We survived April. Did it require lots of deep breathing to stop what felt like a constant panic attack? Yes. Did my sanity fracture somewhat from trying to work at home while simultaneously calming a screaming two year old? Maybe. But it’s over, and the end of the school year is in sight, which means that whatever else is going on, at least I won’t have to grade anything or teach classes over google hangouts ever again. Or at least for a couple of months.

I’ve been baking, cooking, gardening, doing yoga, taking walks while carefully social distancing, playing with my little ones—all of which is great. But the stress and anxiety is still there. I miss so many things—going to parks, museums, seeing friends, Comic Cons, the Renaissance Fair. But I’m trying to stay focused on the things I do have. And besides, this can’t go on forever—there will eventually be a vaccine and enough testing we can safely see other people again. Right?

Books, Books, and Books!

After finishing Lulu in Hollywood, I started reading The Regency Years by Robert Morrison, which is a fascinating look at English history from about 1810 to 1820. It’s actually a really interesting time in history, sort of a last great hurrah of sex, booze, and Lord Byron before the Victorians came in a started shutting down all the naughtiness. I’m also looking forward to reading G.M. Nair’s Duckett & Dyer: The One-Hundred Percent Solution, and Jerome K. Jerome’s Three Men in a Boat (which I’ve been curious about since Connie Willis mentions it so much in “To Say Nothing of the Dog”).

I’m also hosting a couple of online book fairs this month. Beltane Books is for fantasy books in kindle unlimited, while May Moons and Stars Books is for science fiction books on sale for less than $3.00. My books will also be in the Forgotten Magic Book Sale and the May Sci-fi Book Sale, as well as the Quarantine Sci-fi Fair for books in Kindle Unlimited.

As for writing, I’ve found it hard to do much apart from writing in a journal, which while it has been beneficial for my mental health, has not immediately paid dividends in terms of actually working on/finishing stories or other projects. Still, I hope that if I keep going eventually I get some good ideas.

Pictures of My Cats!!

Because sometimes we just need to look at some cat pictures, right?