What grade would you give yourself?

On personal things

Today marks my fourth week of social distancing. No (office) work. No barre class. No Starbucks (sob!). A lot of wine, a lot of kale chips, and a lot of staring numbly at the screen as I procrastinate on work. In some ways, I’ve been good: I’ve made a lot of progress on my manuscript (more on that later). I’ve been regularly walking upwards of 12,000 steps per day – and biking a lot (see my featured photo? That was taken during a bike ride on a deserted boardwalk). Aside from the wine, I’ve been eating quite healthfully. I’m lucky that getting access to food has not become an issue yet.

In other ways, I’ve been not so good. I’ve gotten so behind on work. I’ve read the news obsessively and gone into very dark spirals. I haven’t exercised as much as I truly could be exercising. Sleep has been …weird.

Everyone’s here in one way or another, right? This is unprecedented and no one knows what’s going to happen. Even the world’s leading experts don’t know. We’re all figuring out how to handle this as we go. There’s been a lot of talk about Building Resilience and other current psychology buzzwords. Most of this kind of talk has just irritated me. Everyone says go for walks to clear your head, and try doing a puzzle! but all of this feels a little disingenuous and simplistic.

Only one thing has really struck me, and it’s a rhetorical question our director posed during a team meeting, as we discussed mental health during this pandemic.

When this is over – in six months, twelve months, eighteen, whatever – and you are giving yourself an “A” for how you managed this strange time, what would make you give yourself the A?

It got me thinking. It’s a nice way to frame it, because rather than punishing yourself for shitty behavior, it frames it in a positive way. What would you have to do to feel like you earned top marks?

For me there are some easy ones (not gain weight, finish manuscript, etc., etc.) but there are some bigger, more nebulous ones, too: how much I gave in on a daily basis to the harrowing news cycle; how much kindness I showed my loved ones, how productive I was at work. They’re harder because how can you even set a benchmark there for what is reasonable?

On writing

Writing has been good this week. I’m currently revising my manuscript and I’m just about done with revising the second act. Once I finish revising act II, that means I’ll be 75% done with this draft. I’m hoping to finish it this week. I’ve got about ~5,000 words to write to finish it.

I’ve been on this second draft, realistically speaking, since October, but I don’t think I made real progress until the last 2-3 months. I’m learning that there is a time to push forward and there’s also a time to step back.

In the meantime, I decided to go back to my daily 750 words in addition to working on the book. I feel like I’m getting rusty with my prose again, since revisions are so much more about agonizing over details than just letting the words flow. I use 750words.com, and will talk to anything that stays still long enough about how great this site is. If you need to get in the habit of writing daily – and trust me, you do – you need this site. Its genius is in its simplicity. I’ve been using it for years and it has changed my writing.

Other fun stuff

At Pajiba, Why Does J.K. Rowling’s ‘Fantastic Beasts’ Franchise Have an Abusive Actor Problem?! Good question. As writers I think most of us fantasize about having our books made into blockbuster films or prestige TV. JKR has gone to bat for Johnny Depp and it brings up an interesting question of responsibility on part of the author/screenwriter. Would I go to bat for an actor? No, but then, JKR makes her own rules, per her Twitter (insert eyeroll).

At Vulture, If I Wrote a Coronavirus Episode is just fun. Famous TV writers weigh in. Leslie Knope would absolutely have full-color posters and would be texting everyone 10,000 times a day.

At The Mary Sue, Speculative Fiction Stars Are Trying to Save Indie Bookstores. Valid – if we ever beat this pandemic, I am praying that some of my favorites in San Francisco and the Philly area are still around. HELP THEM.