Today is April 1 and aside from the start of the #AtoZChallenge, it’s also the monthly Insecure Writer’s Support Group (#IWSG) day. I skipped it last month, but today I want to join back in.
I did a lot of writing in the past month. What else is there to do? I mean, I could have spent my month reading, but I still usually read partly for the purpose of blogging about it. So I spent my month writing.
The world pretty much turned upside down in the month of March. Early on, I didn’t see a month full of writing on the horizon at all. Neither did I see COVID-19 coming. In the first week of March, the press at least here was still not taking COVID-19 too seriously. The first cases in the Netherlands were confirmed, but for the most part I still thought this was a far-off thing. A satirical site had a test online about when YOU would contract coronavirus. I had presumably contracted it two days before while trying to stockpile the last packages of fresh meat. I joked about it when having a meeting with my community psychiatric nurse and the facility’s behavior specialist on March 6. We even still shook hands then.
On March 16, schools and restaurants closed for three weeks. A week later, we went on “intelligent” lockdown. This means we are encouraged to stay home and gatherings are prohibited, but going outside isn’t strictly forbidden. My facility implemented a no-visitors policy on March 25.
Just yesterday, we were told that schools will remain closed until at least April 28. Restaurants are closed till June 1 I think.
So, while I’m in self-isolation, I do still try to occupy myself. It’s good that I like writing, huh? For the month of April, I have lots of things I want to write about. I’m participating in A to Z, of course, but I’ve already seen some other prompts that inspire me.
How are things in your part of the world?
Hi Astrid, nice to see you joining the A-Z Challenge this month too. Yes, March took most of us by surprise and now we’re mostly housebound so while there seems to be no excuse for not getting posts up on time, the inspiration is missing for me right now. Well done on your first post; I’ll be following along in April. Linda x
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Thanks so much for commenting. I understand that time on your hands doesn’t mean inspiration comes naturally.
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Good for you for participating in the Blogging A-Z Challenge! I hope it goes well for you!
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Thanks so much. I hope so too. ☺️
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March sure wasn’t what anyone expected. We hope things start getting better soon. Stay safe, healthy and virus-free.
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Thanks so much. Yes, you’re so right about the month of March having lots of surprises.
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I’m glad you’ve gotten a lot of writing in. For me, it’s been another story, but I have been keeping busy. 🙂
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So glad you have been keeping busy. Thanks for stopping by my blog.
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Things aren’t bad here, yet. It’s a little dull, because nothing is open, but there’s still a chance that if we work hard, we might keep it to a minimum. If I didn’t have the internet and writing, I think I’d be well and truly out of my mind well before the virus gets me. Happy IWSG Day.
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