PRODUCTIVITY

Productivity. Now there’s a weasel word for writers in the time of Covid-19. It has a whiff of capitalism coupled with work ethic guilt. Yet as writers we are driven to get words down on the page; that’s also productivity and that’s hard.

So how do we pace ourselves during lockdown? Isn’t this the golden opportunity that many of us have longed for: nowhere much to go, nothing much to do, the perfect time to get on with that novel/screenplay/collection of poems? Some days I wake up thinking - quick, get writing, keep the chaos at bay! But other days I’m in shock about how swiftly our life has changed. I swing from elation to sadness – and back again.

Elation is when I have put in a good day’s writing (which for me is about three hours), have entertained myself and managed to forget about what’s really going on out there. The sadness comes when I feel that we’ve lost so much, as families, as friends, as a community. I can’t watch the news for long, it makes me cry, especially stories of those who have died. Meanwhile who cares about my novel, it’s fluff in the hurricane of global change. I’m useless, I can’t save anyone’s life, I’m just a writer.

When I get my balance back I put my activist hat on and write stories that maybe will help – about what’s happening to pregnant women in the UK who are asylum seekers, or how black women are getting by in in the time of COVID https://www.whiteribbonalliance.org/

Then after the evening bottle of beer, or the community Clap, or both, I’m philosophical. It’s good to be ‘unproductive’, lockdown gives us time to think, re-evaluate, play with new ideas. Time to glory in spring, reconnect with friends and family, love this beautiful world, love each other, be thankful for being a writer, thankful for being alive.