Things I’ve learned during the last six weeks:

• My cat, Niki, really enjoys Zoom meetings.

Four members of my household have been Zooming frequently. As soon as Niki realizes someone’s Zooming, she rushes over to parade back and forth in front of the camera. If the meeting is taking place in my study, which has mirrored closet doors, she gets into a mild dispute with Mirror Cat. Then she settles in near the laptop for a nap.

• I do not enjoy Zoom meetings.

I’m not a fan of meetings in general, and it turns out they’re not vastly improved when I’m sitting in my own house wearing pajama bottoms and a respectable top. I do sort of like the peeks into other people’s homes, however. And during one recent meeting, my older daughter delivered a margarita to me, which was a big improvement over in-person meetings. Turns out some of those irritating people are way more bearable after a little tequila.

• I will never live in a tiny house.

I love my husband. We’ve been married for almost 32 years. He’s been spending the past weeks doing most of the cooking, all of the shopping, and many household chores. He’s also been doing some home-improvement projects. However, if we didn’t have a big house with room for us to temporarily escape each other, I’m not sure he’d have survived quarantine this long.

• My family is fun.

Really! We like hanging out with one another. We’ve been watching some cool stuff on TV (we just began the Netflix series Hollywood last night), taking walks, and doing crafts and things. My older daughter and I both like to bake and garden. My younger daughter just finished being initiated into the thespians at her high school, which meant I got to help her with a bunch of costuming and other impromptu tasks.

• I’m well-suited for quarantine.

I really miss travel, which I usually do very often. But the thing is, when I’m not gallivanting, I mostly like to stick around my house and take walks around my neighborhood. So I don’t particularly miss going to stores, theaters, etc.

• There are advantages to where I live.

I live in a small city (70K people), and the city limits are literally a block away, with orchards and farms on the other side. Under normal circumstances I long for more civilization, but now this is great. It means I can easily venture outside without worrying about social distancing.

• I have new appreciation for my narrators.

I mean, I always admired their talent and hard work. But lately I’ve had to record a bunch of lectures, and that’s been an adventure. Interruptions by kids, husband, cat, and neighbors. Technical difficulties. The challenge of being energetic while tethered to a machine. Recording is hard.

• My neighbors own too many power tools.

None of us have very big yards, so why must everyone wield zillions of mowers, blowers, trimmers, and who knows what else? And why do they have to use them at 7:30 am??

• I need more than just blocks of time to write.

I’ve actually been very busy with the day job; I’m a professor, and shifting classes online has been extremely time-intensive. Still, the lack of set schedule means I can organize my time a little better and set aside writing time for my most productive hours (ie, 9pm to 1 am). But I’ve been struggling anyway. Writing requires sinking into a particular mindset, and that’s hard with disruptions of routine plus existential dread.

• I have wonderful friends and family.

I mean, I knew this already. But the lockdown has shown how strong and kind everyone is. Everyone is struggling now, some more than others (such as my friends in Zagreb who experienced a damaging earthquake right when lockdown started). Yet everyone has been doing their best to care for themselves, their families, and their communities, even making the effort to share things like garden produce or funny memes.

How about you? What have you learned?

***

Kim Fielding is the bestselling author of numerous m/m romance novels, novellas, and short stories. Like Kim herself, her work is eclectic, spanning genres such as contemporary, fantasy, paranormal, and historical. Her stories are set in alternate worlds, in 15th century Bosnia, in modern-day Oregon. Her heroes are hipster architect werewolves, housekeepers, maimed giants, and conflicted graduate students. They’re usually flawed, they often encounter terrible obstacles, but they always find love.

After having migrated back and forth across the western two-thirds of the United States, Kim calls the boring part of California home. She lives there with her family and her day job as a university professor, but escapes as often as possible via car, train, plane, or boat. This may explain why her characters often seem to be in transit as well. She dreams of traveling and writing full-time.

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