Odd, isn’t it, that not one apocalyptic or dystopian book or movie ever mentions mankind’s most obsessive, pressing concern when disaster strikes, and that’s “OMG! Zombie attack! Alien invasion! Meteorite hits Earth! Plague! Breakdown of society! Do I have enough toilet paper for this?!!”

Nothing says more about our society, our culture, than the fact there is now, apparently, a toilet paper calculation app for our phones. Even while I gawk at living to see the day that people would actually calculate the life of a roll of toilet paper, I’m reluctantly admiring the sheer grit that sees a problem and gives us a 21^st century solution. Nothing keeps progress down, does it? No matter how you define it.

Personally, I’d rather make sure I had enough coffee, though I don’t think there’s an app for that.

More seriously, like many of you, I have vulnerable people in my care. I worry about them, though so far (touching wood hurriedly) we’re all fine. But I know people who aren’t,  and I’m sick at heart for those who have sick relatives and who are in far greater trouble, emotionally, than I am. These are the interesting times to which Confucius cursed us.

We’re in uncharted territory with this virus. It shouldn’t be uncharted, of course. In the last two decades, we’ve had bird flu, swine flu, SARS, MERS, Ebola and probably more infections that any of us can now remember. Viruses have been making the leap from animal to human with increasing regularity. Covid-19 really shouldn’t have blind-sided us, and I’ll bet every epidemiologist in the world is sing-songing “I told you so! I bloody told you so!”

For very many of us, this lack of preparation means we’re now all sitting at home and waiting for the plague to pass, worrying about keeping ourselves and our loved ones as safe as we can, washing our hands obsessively, staying six feet away from everyone if we do venture out, reassuring our children and turning home into temporary classrooms, trying to work from home if the kind of work we do allows for that or find ways to fill the time if it doesn’t. And hanging over us is the uncertainty of employment during the Covid-19 shut down, and possibly afterwards as the economy recovers from the shock of lockdown. So, coping mechanisms to ward off cabin fever mustn’t cost a great deal, yet still be enough to divert us and keep us occupied. I thought I’d share some of the free diversions I’ve been using to try keep myself from worrying too much.

I’m not saying that it’s been totally successful, of course. But it all helps.

I’m lucky in one sense. My life actually hasn’t changed all that much. For several years now I haven’t worked except at writing, so being at home a lot is my default state. But even for me, things are harder than usual. It’s hard to concentrate on my w-i-p when what I want to do is obsessively refresh the news sites. In between times, I watch far too much stuff on YouTube—the Corning Museum of Glass demos of glasswork are fascinating (the heroine of my w-i-p is a glassblower, so I pretend to myself that watching the vids = research); the grownup adventures of Wednesday Addams make me LOL when I’m feeling a bit blue, and pastry chef and baker Anna Olson’s baking vids make me drool. But on the less positive side, I’ve also been watching a lot of disaster-y things. I’ve seen Krakatoa blow its top three times in the last week alone. There’s nothing like seeing a pyroclastic flow belching towards the camera to put your ennui into perspective.

Aside from watching volcanoes and glass blowing, I read. I read a lot. My comfort reading of choice is usually fanfic (Archive of our own – AO3 – is a real godsend), but I’ve found the page on QueerRomanceInk (https://www.queeromanceink.com/free-books/) with a host of freebie books to devour. I’ll be lining up quite a few of those in the next day or two.

I shared some of my fave fanfic last summer when AO3 won a Hugo Award, but I’ll repeat it here for your convenience, adding in a few more:

 

Any Harry/Draco story by Saras_Girl, but the Foundation and Turn series are *epic* and my Christmas is made each year by her advent stories.

 

A J Hall’s Draco/Neville in Lust Over Pendle. Awesome. The entire Lust universe works are listed here in chronological order

 

Harry/Ron — a pairing that I’d never considered until I read Mad Martha’s Auror series and the amazing Two Households series

 

Harry/sort-of-time-travelling-young-Sirius in Copperbadge’s Cartographer’s Craft

 

Speranza’s Stargate Atlantis classic, Written by the Victors

 

Another SGA classic with LtLJ’s wonderful Retrograde series

 

SGAMadison’s original Sherlock Holmes/Stargate Atlantis crossover A Lesson In Evil

 

Hiperbunny’s epic Qui Gon Jinn/Obi Wan Kenobi in Bonds of Choice

 

This is for when I’m indoors, of course. The weather in the UK is wonderful at the moment – bright, sunny, spring days which have the garden burgeoning. I’ve been out there every day, clearing away the accumulated winter detritus. If nothing else, the garden will look great this year. And I get out every day with the dogs for one good long walk. They’d like more, but it’s hard to explain shelter-at-home policies to them. They have to content themselves with rushing around the garden like maniacs while I’m pulling up nettles.

And in between all this, I remember I’m supposed to be a writer, and I manage to write the odd paragraph or two.

Basically, like everyone else, I’m just about coping. But how are you all doing? Why not share here some of the ways you’re coping with the Covid-19 lockdown, sharing resources and links?

 

Stay safe and well.

 

 

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About Anna

Anna was a communications specialist for many years, working in various UK government departments. These days, though, she is writing full time. She lives with her husband in a quiet village tucked deep in the Nottinghamshire countryside. She’s supported there by the Deputy Editor, aka Molly the cockerpoo, who is assisted by the lovely Mavis, a Yorkie-Bichon cross with a bark several sizes larger than she is but no opinion whatsoever on the placement of semi-colons.

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