Back in March when the NCAA cancelled the college basketball
championship, I was utterly disappointed. The two-plus weeks of the March
Madness tournament are my absolute favorite sports watching. Now, when I look
back on it, I’m so grateful for the foresight of those who made that decision.
It took a lot of courage to make a decision to cancel an
event that generates millions upon millions of dollars. At the same time, the
South by Southwest music festival in Austin was cancelled, as was the nearly
month-long Houston rodeo, both events that pump millions into the economy of
those two cities and which draw participants from all over the country.
Because of decisions like that, thousands of lives have been
saved from this unprecedented global pandemic. I am so thankful.
Now during this sheltering-in-place, I have other things for
which to be thankful.
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| My author friend Gerry Bartlett grocery shopping |
Because I don’t leave the house (being immunosuppressed and
asthmatic), I have had the opportunity to write more than I have in years. I
actually finished my new Christmas novella for the Mistletoe and Mayhem
anthology in almost record time. After working out the plot, I wrote the
novella (about a third as long as my novels) in just 15 full writing days. Of
course, I still had to edit the manuscript.
I hadn’t written that fast since the proliferation of the
internet. Before there was social media and in the infancy days of the
internet, I had written a novella for Kensington Books in five days—not counting
editing.
Most of us writers are used to being solitary, so we’re faring
pretty well.
Another thing I’m thankful for is my friend Gerry Bartlett,
a former Precious Gems author who’s also written for Berkley and Kensington,
who has helped me out by shopping for us.
I’m also grateful that during this pandemic I’ve gotten to
enjoy very long phone conversations every day with my youngest son, who’s a
bachelor living alone and who has health issues. This is the son who normally
doesn’t call his mom, like his brother does.
These calls started because of my worry about him. I’m
thankful his boss allows him to work remotely.
Most of all, I’m thankful that this horrible COVID-19 virus
has spared my family.—Cheryl Bolen is the
author of 40 plus books, most of which are set in Regency England. See her
sites below.
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