If the world does return to normal, I think this will be a very strange period of time that we look back on and scratch our heads over. Politically, many countries seem to be in tatters, including the UK and US, as governments lie and gaslight dissenters.
In the North East of Scotland we've been very lucky to avoid the worst of Covid-19 so far, and I am starting to feel a sense of quiet optimism that we might continue to avoid it. Of course, spending most of the time indoors with two other people and wearing a mask when near anybody else, is something I've continued to do almost obsessively. Two metres? Why not four? Seems to be my reaction to social distancing, and not living in a city makes that possible most of the time. Mask on face I visited the post office today to send off my uni application. I've enrolled for two courses over the next twelve months and hope to complete the BA (hons) Arts and Humanities (Creative Writing) degree in 2022. I've already started a fund to pay the deposit for a Masters in Creative Writing when the degree is finished, assuming I achieve the required 2.1 classification.
My elder daughter left and moved into her uni accommodation and is doing well. So it's just the three of us now, and of course the two cats.
I've managed to keep busy. I finished the first draft of a novel that may or may not be called The Witch of Witchwood. I'm about to start writing a collaborative Southern Gothic Horror novel with Faith Marlow, and I need to finish Pariah (the fifth and final book in the Starblood series). I'm also collating and editing tales for a new version of the Slice Girls Anthology, which will be published by Nightmare Press. So it's all good, really, but it feels like a too quiet and too slow pace of life even for me.
Because blog posts need pictures, I thought I'd share my reading list (in addition to set books) for the A113 Revolutions course and my Black Lives Matter collection. I hope you're all okay, and that if you've been following the videos, that you're enjoying my readings of Starblood. For anyone who is interested, I have signed paperbacks on sale on the website now. Take care, and be kind to each other.
Carmilla xxx
