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Pandemic Writing
- Dec 4, 2020
- 2 min read
It's been a while since my last post, almost a year in fact. I published The Shift in February 2020, and the boxes of my books arrived while I was in early labor. I opened them immediately anyway, excited to see four years of work in hardcover and paperback. Once I snapped some pics and uploaded a video for you all to see, I went back to bed and waited to meet my little girl.
Sofia is 9 months old now, and I am finally taking some much needed time to write again. You see, for me, writing is cathartic and rejuvenating, It's almost a basic need, like showering or staying hydrated. Now, I get to piece together the ideas I've fervently typed into the notes app on my phone, hiding under my comforter in bed as not to wake my baby. I finally get to introduce my next book to you.
To introduce my ideas I first need to explain how the story came to exist. It was a week or two after I had given birth to Sofia and a few weeks before the coronavirus pandemic spread across the world. COVID was a household name, but not quite a concern to us just yet. I hadn't given it much thought at all. Masks were not a thing. Fear was not a thing, at least not for the greater majority of us. But my subconscious was brewing an idea, one that I would come to realize was something of a premonition.
I should explain that, when I write, I see a story in my mind, hear the characters in my head (no not literally, I'm not crazy...), something like backward reading. Zoe and Charlotte emerged in my imagination, telling their stories through the keypad on my touchscreen phone. A story of fear, hate, and love. A story of a country full of people forced to wear gas masks to leave their homes, its citizens afraid of the very air they breathed. Zoe and Charlotte's stories became clearer as I wrote. Eventually the coronavirus pandemic exploded and we found ourselves wearing masks to leave our homes, afraid of the very air we breathe.
There remains a lot to expose about Zoe and Charlotte's stories, and I can't wait to share them with you in my next novel, The Air.
Today, for the first time since before giving birth, I sat down with my laptop to write. While writing The Shift, I had posted all the different locations in which I wrote, from airplanes to my own sofa. Now, due to the pandemic, I can no longer write "anywhere". Banished from coffee shops and libraries alike, I now sit in the driver's seat of my Subaru in a Starbucks parking lot, writing about fear, hate, love, and hope.
I invite you to follow me along this new journey.
I really connected with this piece on pandemic writing—it captures so well how uncertain and emotionally complex that time felt, especially for writers trying to make sense of everything while living through it. The idea that it’s hard to shape a clear narrative when events are still unfolding really stood out to me, as many writers struggled with not knowing how the story would end . It shows how writing became both a challenge and a form of reflection during such a strange period. In a similar way, when working on health and social assignments, I’ve found that understanding real-life contexts is just as important as theory. That’s where New Assignment Help UK has been useful for me, helping turn…
This post genuinely moved me — the image of you opening your book boxes while in labor is both hilarious and incredibly poignant, and it perfectly captures how life refuses to pause for our big moments. The pandemic scrambled everyone's creative routines in ways we're still processing, and your Starbucks parking lot writing setup honestly sounds more productive than my kitchen table ever was. It's interesting how isolation pushed so many people to find their voice — I even noticed younger writers using the pandemic downtime to explore gcse speech ideas and personal essays for the first time, suddenly having the space to reflect on things that really mattered to them. Your story of writing a gas-mask dystopia weeks before…
I read this pandemic writing post and it really hit me how much our habits and routines changed when everything got flipped upside down lol. Like, one minute you’re doing your normal thing and the next you’re stuck at home trying to figure out how to stay productive with all the extra time and somehow assignments still feel like the hardest thing ever, haha. I swear I’ve lost track of days trying to juggle research, writing, deadlines, and just life in general, and maybe it’s just me but when I’m overwhelmed and don’t really know where to start it feels like too much sometimes. I came across Native Assignment Help UK once when I was in that kind of situation, an…
Your post really captured what so many of us went through during the pandemic — that strange mix of fear, stillness, and unexpected creativity. I related deeply to the way writing felt both harder and more necessary at the same time, especially when routines disappeared and mental energy was stretched thin. It’s comforting to read an honest account that doesn’t romanticize the process but still acknowledges how meaningful it became. Many people, including students, were trying to juggle emotional stress with responsibilities, and having support (whether from community, family, or even something practical like Assignment Help UK) made a real difference. Thank you for sharing such a genuine reflection.
This reflection on pandemic writing really resonates, showing how isolation and shifting routines can both challenge and inspire creativity. I found a similar balance when completing an affordable assignment during lockdown, and using NEBOSH open book exam support helped me structure my work efficiently while keeping the process manageable and focused.