1.The crushing feeling when you try to explain to people that no, you're not going to finish the pandemic with a full-fledged book and publishing contract.
2.Struggling to communicate to the world that because of everything that's going on — it feels like the creativity has just been sucked out of you.
3.And, if you're working in a creative field, absolutely dreading your upcoming deadlines.
4.Becoming irrationally jealous of people online announcing that they're going to use this time to write a book — just 'cause.
5.Getting a random surge of motivation and setting yourself an (unrealistic) word limit.
6.Then, trying to stick to your goals when the dirty clothing pile has doubled and the kitchen is always a mess.
7.Immediately giving up on the word limit and hating everything about this situation you're stuck in (again).
8.Using a bunch of filler words just to get to your word limit and basking in the false sense of accomplishment it gives you.
9.Spiralling as you completely rethink your career and decide to become a painter.
10.And procrastinating the procrastination because...TV.
11.Frustratingly swaying back and forth between productivity and procrastination as you start your journal again, only to be both buoyed and dismayed by bullet journalists.
12.Telling yourself that reading is a form of ~writing practice~ and completely ignoring your WIP.
13.Falling into a pit of self doubt that nothing you ever write will be as good as the classics.
14.Finally getting into the writing zone, only to be distracted once again by the state of the world.
15.Feeling a surge of accomplishment as you write down all the local writing competitions in your diary.
16.Followed by a burgeoning shame as the dates flick by at a ridiculous speed and you realise you don't have anything prepared.
17.Finishing off a section (chapter, paragraph, line) and obsessively editing it again and again.
18.And constantly looking up obscure grammar rules to double check you got it right.
19.Printing off a nice clean page, only to find a teeny mistake leading you to redline it and print it off all over again.
20.Having it finally dawn on you that it's okay to not be creative right now — cause you're in the midst of a shitshow.
21.And lastly, being really proud of what you've accomplished — no matter what it was or wasn't. Because getting through this period of time is enough — you don't need a massive project to show the world how you've spent your ~pandemic years~.
