#IWSG: April 2020

The Insecure Writers Support Group is a marvellous group set up by Alex Cavanagh. On the first Wednesday of every month, members post thoughts, fears or words of encouragement for fellow writers.

The link above takes you to details about the group and how to join. You’ll also find a list of bloggers signed up to the challenge – do check them out.

The awesome co-hosts this month are Diane Burton, JH Moncrieff, Anna @ Emaginette, Karen @ Reprobate Typewriter, Erika Beebe, and Lisa Buie-Collard!

The IWSG’s focus is on our writers. Each month, from all over the globe, we are a united group sharing our insecurities, our troubles, and our pain. So, in this time when our world is in crisis with the covid-19 pandemic, this month ‘s question is: how are things in your world?

Rather than talk about panic buying, fears over loved ones we can’t see in person, rants about (failures in) social distancing, overwhelm from the round-the-clock news cycle’s focus on fear-mongering rather than responsible information provision, I’m going to talk about my win …

I can now sit at my desk. What sounds like a small step is huge for me, as I can actually type again after four horribly long weeks. I’ve tried pecking out character-by-painful-character on my phone and tablet, I even rigged up a tray so I could balance my laptop on a bent knee and a chair arm – but the ergonomics of it defeated me. For while the world has been going into an inexorable lockdown, I’ve been recovering from knee surgery. The first couple of weeks on crutches meant I’d few, if any, thoughts of writing. Since then, I’ve done a bit of scribbling in pen – but now I’m struggling to read my truly dreadful writing, scrawled across the pages of a precariously balanced book.

I consider myself highly fortunate in being a trained typist with decades of secretarial work under my belt, for I still have an enviably high typing speed allowing me to keep up with the flow of my thoughts – something my handwriting simply cannot. My desktop hosts the majority of my software tools, including my copy of Scrivener and Dropbox. When you’re working on a shared manuscript with a co-writer, these tools are critical, and I admit lacking the confidence to try out syncing with my laptop – fearful it would go wrong, cause problems, even result in lost work.

So – for me – normality is returning to my writing world. My mental health has really struggled these last few weeks and, although general anaesthetic and recovery have been major contributors, so has the inability to sit down and type my little heart out.  Now I just need to quiet my mind so creativity has a chance to flow …