Hey cHEwY gum gums!
Today was supposed to be my first school visit this term, kickstarting a normal Book Week/Month/Season which would have taken me to a few festivals, different states and seeing thousands of kids. But then lockdown happened. Regardless of how long Sydney’s current lockdown will last for, this term is now up in the air (pun intended) because I’m sure restrictions will be put into place once we leave lockdown, so I doubt schools will be accepting visitors for awhile.
So how will lockdown affect me this time around? In terms of work, a lot of my school visits will be postponed or cancelled. Some will changed to virtual school visits and for that I’ll be grateful. While online sessions were a novelty last year, I think a lot of Sydney schools would prefer to wait until it’s safe to have in-person school visits, which is fair enough. So yeah, touring children authors will be hurting a bit. Also, anyone bringing out new books around this time won’t be able to travel freely to promote.
Will I use my lockdown time to write? I reckon I’ll be a lot more productive in our second lockdown, mostly because I am writing first drafts of two projects, and first drafts are easier to churn out. Yes, I’ll still be slower, because I thrive on writing in short bursts when I travel, but I feel more confident this time around. Some children authors may end up writing another few novels, some like me, will chip away, with one eye on the calendar, waiting for things to go back to normal.
A lot of us will be putting things in perspective as well. I think about my Melbourne author friends who were in lockdown while I was visiting schools in Term 3, last year. Now they are enjoying being out and about, and I’m all for it. My goodness, they’ve earnt it after all they’ve been through. Honestly, this gratefulness of being able to visit schools and places won’t be fading away anytime soon for all of us.
What will I be looking forward to? The Olympics. I love live sport and so I’ll be a potato couch watching as much as I can. More time to play games, read books, and watch movies…I’ll be fine. Yeah, I am sad about what could have been, but there’s still pockets of joy.
For those in Sydney, how are you feeling? Let me know 🙂
O.W
