31.587 recorded COVID-19 deaths in the UK so far, and 215,260 confirmed cases, but the actual number might be much higher due to lack of testing and not including those people recovering at home.
And yet street parties have been covered by the BBC.
In contrast I've become very anxious about social distancing, crossing streets and becoming very uncomfortable within supermarkets while food shopping. I dread my workplace opening too early and having to meet and greet tourists in close quarters. I've been furloughed, so I'm spending most of my time writing, but the novel "Pariah" has been giving me some trouble, so I've put back the release date by a year, and I'll work on another project in the meantime.
On the plus side I have been having a lot of fun wearing a red wig, painting voluptuous crimson lips on my face and channelling Lilith to read from Starblood on Facebook Live. You can watch these recordings at any time after they've gone live, on my Isolation Tank page on this website, or my Facebook page - 8pm UK time Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Friday.
I've been reading diversely, from physics to serial killers, as well as my usual diet of fiction. And I've requested more books, wigs and lipstick for my upcoming birthday. Anything I can have fun with in the safety of my home. I will need all the tools learned from my brief course of CBT when it's time to join the world again.
Anna Prashkovich has been busy painting pages for Black Sun the graphic novel. We hope to finish it next year and will be running another Kickstarter drive to help with initial printing costs and offering some amazing exclusive rewards to backers. If you don't want to miss any news about the graphic novel and my other projects, subscribe to my monthly newsletter here. In the meantime I'll share one of the pages below.
So at least there is good news to report with the bad. I cling to the good like a life raft, afraid that I might drown in my own anxiety before this is over. I hope many of you dear readers are coping better than I am, but if not perhaps there is some solace in knowing that you are not suffering alone. Even though it might feel like you are.
If you are financially comfortable, but bored, buying my books will help me enormously during this stressful time. I'll leave a link here in case you are lucky enough not to be worried about money.
Love and solidarity, Carmilla Voiez xxx
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