Why Write During Times Like This?

I have seen on several social media pages that some people are questioning why anyone would or could write, draw, or otherwise create any type of art during times like this? The world seems to be in turmoil. The Covid-19 pandemic is still going strong, although many people seem to have moved on. Numbers of infections continue to increase in many states and regions in the United States. There are still many protests going on for equal rights for African-Americans, although thankfully there appears to be few violent clashes.

Some might even argue that we should be helping defeat the pandemic, or providing support for those who are marginalized. And they may be correct.

However, I would also argue that writing, and more broadly creating any type of art, is a way of providing support for a cause or helping stamp out a pandemic. Writing and other arts help move opinions and has done so for thousands of years. It reflects the time, encapsulates it for generations to come.

Besides, at some point the world will calm back down and things will come to some sort of new normal. It would be nice to have a world to return to and a world without any sort of art is not much of a world at all. And that makes this the best time of all to create your respective art.

Writing in the Apocalypse

With everything going on now, the coronavirus pandemic continuing and now all of the civil unrest due to the murder of George Floyd, it can be hard to concentrate. It might even seem to be the end of the world. While I even named this blog post after an apocalypse, I am a bit more optimistic about the future of the country and the world as a whole. In the long term, I think we'll likely be okay. In the short term, things seem to be a bit rocky.

I, like many of you I assume, find myself on Facebook for longer periods of time than I used to. And I keep watching and reading the news to find out the latest. I've been watching some of the protests and riots on Facebook Live and other sources. We are living in a historic time, one in which, hopefully brings about some sort of needed change. It is hard not to get caught up in it. If you feel moved enough to get involved, by all means do so. Don't let me or anyone else talk you out of it.

But the bigger purpose of this post to remind myself, and if you see fit, to remind you, the reader, to keep taking care of yourself. It is best mentally to carry on as normally as possible. For the purposes of this blog that means to keep writing. Remember to tune out of the Facebook live feeds once in a while. Put time limits on how much time you spend watching and reading the news. It is good to be informed, but it is best to not let it take over your life. And again, I'm talking to myself as much as I am anyone else, as I do with most of my posts.

For myself, I've still been reading items I need for my non-fiction book on Frankenstein in film. I am also very close to finishing a rough draft of a novel about a werewolf. I've also seen a little success lately. If anyone is interested, my most recent publishing credit is a horror short story titled "The Lecturer" and was posted on Page and Spine's new Outta This World page here. And my latest poem, "A Perfect Rainbow" can be found in the latest issue of Teach. Write. here.

So what is everyone else doing to cope with the pandemic and all the other turmoil in the world today? Here is a picture from a cruise ship I was on a few years ago. I like it for its bright horizon.