Tell Us How You Are Doing

How Are You Doing During This Covid-19 Crisis?

Kendra and I recently sent out an email asking how you all are doing, how your life has changed during the curfew of this health crisis. To reach a wider audience of memoir writers, we decided to post the message here. Why?

We have been thinking about you all a lot recently. After several conversations reflecting on how we are all affected in different ways and yet probably share similarities, we decided to ask, “How you are doing right now?”

Everyone, young and old, is affected by this current health crisis. I have a six-year-old granddaughter who is having a difficult time adjusting. On the last day before the school closed, teachers talked about the virus, what that meant, and why they wouldn’t be returning for a while. A few days later, she asked her dad to use his phone to take a picture of the three of them, “just in case we get coronavirus.” (Yes, her vocabulary now includes that word.) She continues to worry even though her parents have been reassuring.

And what about you? As you know, memoir writers are especially sensitive to ways that our daily lives, our livelihoods, our physical health, our mental health, our relationships, are all changed when such a momentous crisis places itself squarely in our lives. We realize that life as we have known it has changed.

• Some of us want to document our thoughts in journals.
• Some find that for the first time that we cannot write.
• Some want to find ways to ignore it all.
• Some try to snack our way through this time.
• Some try to find purpose in the midst of tragedy.
• Some are overwhelmed by anxiety.

…And the list goes on.

First, we hope you are all well.

Second, we would really like to hear from you…to learn how you are doing and feeling. Sharing our experiences and thoughts is one way we can remember this beautiful community of memoir writers that we are all a part of. Writing brief notes about what we are doing during this “new normal” is one of the ways we can feel connected even when we are separated.

How Can You Share? If you would like to share your thoughts and experiences, you put them in the Comments section below. Or, you can send them to me at: Matilda@WomensMemoirs.com.  Write a few sentences or something longer. Mainly, we are eager to know if you are well and how you are coping or not coping. And if you feel like it, we’d like to know how you think Covid-19, shelter-in-place, testing (or lack thereof), and social distancing are affecting you. Or more generally, what is affecting you.

There are no “fill in the blanks” here. Just write from your heart. We hope to hear from many of you and we will post your thoughts on our blog (with or without your name, your decision). We believe we will all find comfort in this sharing.

Stay safe. Stay strong. And most of all… Stay well.

NOTE: If writing at this time causes you anxiety, then just don’t do it. Each person needs to take care of herself.

And now, for a little humor in this dark time.

If you want to learn a little more about me, I can tell you that this is exactly my kind of humor. And if I am confessing, then I should add that I often don’t “get” New Yorker cartoons. (TMI, I know.)