Pandemic time is crazy. On the one hand, one month can drag on monotonously and feel like eight months; on the other, short periods of time can be packed with extreme highs and lows that leave you with emotional whiplash.
Case in point: About two weeks ago, I had a conversation with a literary agent that basically boiled down to “you're not enough” (based on my social media followings) and left me both uncertain and enraged. A few days later (fully migrated to the enraged camp) I posted a Twitter thread about the conversation (see link below). A few days after the Twitter thread caught fire, I had a conversation with another literary agent (a direct result of the fiery Twitter thread) that left me feeling fired up and hopeful. And then last week as I was doing a lot of deep reflection and writing in service of my potential book project, I received two Iris Award nominations (see link below).
And this is all happening against the usual backdrop of work, grocery and pet food runs, making meal after meal after meal, eyeing my perpetually untidy house with resignation, trying to (sort of) be Fun Mom, dental work (ugh), a pediatrician visit amidst mystery rash woes, celebrating quarantine birthdays, helping my kids figure out how to have some socially distanced summer fun while working through their disappointment about the upcoming school year, writing get out the vote postcards with my kids, and working to level up my election efforts by training to work the primary and Election Day polls.
What is crystal clear is that this roller coaster we're on isn't slowing down any time soon. And the only thread that really makes sense to me in the face of the professional and personal things that have happened over the last couple of weeks is that the best you can do is stay steady and true to the things you believe in and get to work.
