Writing in Quarantine

Shakespeare wrote Lear, so what is your excuse? Right?
Well. I suppose Shakespeare would have written Lear quarantined or not. Sometimes I find times of stress and uncertainty to be paralytics to my creativity–I can sit down at the page everyday, and still write nothing, because my brain is always background humming over the scariness of the world.
I have still been writing though because not even a worldwide pandemic can eclipse the grief I feel over Kit, and that is what I write about.
I’m once again turning to the Crafty Poet–a book of writing exercises that I’ve enjoyed reading through in times when writing is a little more difficult–and have written poems. Good poems? Maybe not, but, yes, poems, and even if they never are meant for others they are certainly meant for me.
And like every other normal person, I’m going on walks, cleaning, reading, all those things that are suddenly so much more possible when everything in your life is cancelled.
But I do think creative projects can be beacons of hope right now, and worthwhile pursuits if you can stop your mind from spinning and settle on it. For me, when I write, I leave everything, kind of put it all on pause, and it is a welcome little “creative quarantine” I try to escape to everyday.