UNIQUE Times

I won’t state the obvious about the unique situation the world is in. It’s not every year we get to fight a pandemic. Nor is it every year that writer’s conferences—the mega booster to encourage and direct writers—are cancelled. While they are tentatively rescheduled for later in the year, in the back of our minds most of us are thinking, I wonder if they will be held this year at all. I certainly hope so but none of us can foresee the future.

I think about writers of old such as Louisa May Alcott, Jane Austen, Emily Bronte, Nathaniel Hawthorne. As far as I know, they were not attending conferences aimed at their passion. Yet they still wrote. The fruit of their labors is still sitting on our book shelves.

As much as we love the camaraderie of our fellow writers in person, it is not an essential to our word crafting. I have to gulp when I write that because I LOVE meeting my fellow authors up close and personal. But this year has to be different. We have to rely on our connections elsewhere (thank the Lord for social media!) and especially, on the One Who called us to write in the first place.

Years ago, our family experienced a flood in Iowa where we lived at the time. The water treatment plant was contaminated and we had no fresh water for over a week. The National Guard came to filter river water for us. “Potable water” they called it. My pre-teen daughter thought the soldiers were cute. 😉 I had to prepare myself for THAT new phase in our lives!

My memories include incessant rain that felt like we needed to build an Ark. Sandbag filling in attempts to keep the flood waters at bay. Transporting water to a local nursing home in our mini-van. Sweat and dirt in my every pore, and longing for a shower in the heat. These are the memories of that time that persist so many years later. It was a time of community caring.

We are in such a time here and now. You can use this opportunity to help your community. Volunteer at a food bank. Sew masks and donate them to whoever needs them. Deliver meals to the elderly.

This is a time for new experiences that will make you become a better writer. In the life of a writer, these times of challenge stretch us from our comfort zone. That’s not a bad place to be.

Carry on. And wash your hands.

Elaine Marie Cooper has two historical fiction books that released in 2019: War’s Respite (Prequel novella) and Love’s Kindling. Love’s Kindling was recently named a Finalist in the 2020 Selah Awards. It is the second book in the Dawn of America Series set in Revolutionary War Connecticut. Cooper is the award-winning author of Fields of the Fatherless and Bethany’s Calendar. Her 2016 release (Saratoga Letters) was finalist in Historical Romance in both the Selah Awards and Next Generation Indie Book Awards. She has been published in Chicken Soup for the Soul and HomeLife magazine. She also penned the three-book historical series, Deer Run Saga. Her upcoming release, Scarred Vessels,” is about the black soldiers in the American Revolution. Look for it in October 2020. You can visit her website/ blog at www.elainemariecooper.com