Writing in the Age of Corona

I was awake at 6:00 this morning after only sleeping a couple of hours. At 8:15, I gave up on trying to get some more sleep, got dressed, and drove to McDonald's to pick up breakfast. It's kind of sad they have the freshest tea in town out of all the take-out restaurants.

Before the COVID-19 pandemic, I would have gone to Panera for their bacon and spinach soufflé. That will be the signal that things are back to normal--soufflés will be available again at Panera.

But tea? For me, tea is essential for writing. That, my earbuds, and my Amazon Music subscription. As much as I love my husband, it's hard for both of us to work in our tiny apartment.

Let me amend that. It's hard for me to write original words while he's on the phone with clients and his team members. DH is normally a soft talker.

Until he gets on the phone.

With the pandemic, I've got nowhere to go with my laptop that's safe. Not when I'm in the high-risk group of croaking from COVID-19. The McDonald's drive-thru this morning? Less than five minutes and minimal contact. Sitting in a restaurant for two hours? High probability of contamination even if I were allowed to sit for that long. Which I'm not for anyplace that serves breakfast.

I know other writers who need absolute quiet. Apartment living, along with a spouse who works from home would drive them bonkers. But I learned long ago that music provides white noise and allows me to get into the writing zone. It was simply a matter of training myself. And training others because I learned folks don't bug you in cafés and restaurants when you have wires trailing out of your ears.

So writing at home in the age of corona means earbuds and cranking up the music to provide enough white noise I can't consciously hear DH talking about general ledgers or downed servers. And it helps that temperatures are warming up. The A/C is already chugging along, providing its own white noise.