Why I'm not freaking out (special coronavirus / COVID-19 special)

I read a blog post this morning by a well-known science fiction writer and felt more than compelled to write this post.

First, the author (no, I will not disclose the name nor gender, as this person is fairly smart but seems to be a bit misguided in light of current events) wrote about all of the uncertainty in the world and how the whole coronavirus is impacting the world economy.  No argument there, however said author seemed to imply that the entire global market is on the verge of collapsing and we may never recover from it.

Now, I am not a fortune teller and cannot see the future, but I am not freaking out about this whole mess.  True, I am nearing the close of my second week of working from home, and I am thankful for having this job.  Also, the company I work for is thriving to help bring products to the various manufacturers who are building many of the world's leading edge innovations.  It is also on the forefront of many manufacturers who are changing their business model to help build ventilators and other necessary medical devices to battle this pandemic.  But the world economy collapsing?  I find that hard to believe.

Are you familiar with the book "Who Moved My Cheese?" by Spencer Johnson and Kenneth Blanchard?  It's a quick read that is well worth the time.  The gist of it is the world is always changing and if something disrupts it, we should figure out a way to move with it.  In other words, if we're mice in a maze and our cheese has always been in one particular spot, what happens when the cheese is no longer there?  We go find it in its new place.

Many of our local restaurants have changed their business model to offering curb side service or even home delivery, whereas they never offered it before.  Is business through the roof?  Probably not.  But then again, if you offer excellent service, you never know where this economy will take you.

People talk about this being the New Normal.  Heck, this all started for me on January 16th of this year (11 weeks ago, to be exact), when my wife passed away.  In a way, I am thankful she is no longer in this world because many of the risk factors for COVID-19 was right in her wheelhouse: diabetes, former cancer patient, respiratory complications.  Then again, I have had a whole host of New Normals across my life, even as far back as April 2011 when my wife was originally diagnosed with leukemia.

I get it.  I am not arguing with the fact that the world as we know it will not be like it was.  But I see that as a good thing.  Now I have the ability to work from home if I need to.  Also, when my writing business skyrockets and I am able to do it full-time, I have now developed the habits to make it work whereas I had a difficult time to before all this.

Also, I truly believe that this world is in God's hands.  I have complete faith in God and everything He has done.  Only through my Christian faith has the impact of my wife's passing been a blessing when I know she is in a far better place.

And I will see her again one day.  It's hard for me to fathom a world without such hope.

Lastly, as a writer myself, what made me be more than compelled to write this is due to many of the more vocal writers bitching about not being able to write, bitching about the election and what it does to the publishing industry, and quite frankly just plain bitching in general.  I am convinced the majority of writers may not be in this camp, but when the ones who are more successful seem to be the more bitchy ones, it makes me scratch my head in wonder.  For me, I've been writing more and more each day.

I also think many others are too.  The ones who aren't seem to be spending more time posting their bitchiness online when they could just hunker down and work.

Art is, after all, an essential business too.  Where else are we going to be entertained from, except from the creation that is within our own minds?

So get out there and do it.  Now!

Social distancing before it was cool / Happenings In The Outhouse 20-March-2020

We've all heard the term by now: social distancing.  If not, go on the internet and search for it.

Done?  Head spinning yet, with all the COVID-19 (coronavirus) news?

Honestly, I've been practicing social distancing for quite some time.  In fact, when I'm done with work, I want nothing more than to go home and stay home.  Sure, I'm not a complete hermit and will do stuff, like going to church or to a benefit or even visiting with family.  But I prefer to stay home the majority of the time.

I get it, if you've lived your life going to countless sporting events, whether professional or high school or college sports, this is going to be an adjustment.  But for me, this doesn't change my life one bit.  I'm a bit sad though that my daughters' speech competitions are on hold--and one is very good; so good that she could've been a contender to go to state.

And now it appears that I may be able to do my day job from home.  I have mixed feelings toward this because I like to separate home and work.

But this may be the perfect time to practice working from home, because as a writer this is something I have always dreamed of doing.

For a list of my ebooks on Amazon, here's the link: https://www.amazon.com/Mark-S.-R.-Peterson/e/B00CLJQL5G

Stay healthy everyone!  We can do this!

What Sacrifices Are You Making To Achieve Your Art? / Happenings In The Outhouse 09-June-2017

In mid-May, Steven Pressfield wrote a rather interesting post titled "Warriors and Mothers."

I highly suggest reading it first before we go on.

Done?

Okay, let's go.

In this post, Pressfield talks about what sacrifices mothers make when they're pregnant.  Typically, they may stay more at home while others seem to be out and about all the time--or, at least, they give that perception.

This got me thinking of my college years at Bemidji State University.  I wrote (and finished) my first novel while in college.  There were many nights where I was up until two or three in the morning, hunched over my Brother word processor, cranking out page after page.  Now, this novel (which as yet may or may not see the light of day) was just over 1,000 pages when I was done.  Yes, you heard correctly.  1,000 pages.  And, with roughly 250-350 words on a page, depending the amount of "white space," this horror novel was . . . yes, 250,000 to 350,000 words.  A quarter-million word horror novel.  When I hear that most nowadays are around 75,000, this one was incredibly long.

But I still worked at it.

I learned how to write.

And finish.

I made sacrifices.  When I had friends who were going out to the bars 3-4 nights a week and were involved in multiple activities, I limited my activities outside my little dorm and worked on my art.  But the friends who were truly friends knew what I was doing, and encouraged me to do it.

As a side note, the second novel I ever wrote and finished was also of the horror genre, and I will guess to be close to 400,000 words.  This one may see the light of day in a year or so as I am considering breaking it up into a short series (probably 4-5 books).  But, more on that at a future date and time . . .

I am an Introvert. Gotta problem with that?

I am currently reading Susan Cain's book Quiet: The Power of Introverts In a World That Can't Stop Talking.

I first discovered Susan from her fabulous TED talk:

Her book is packed with information on what makes introverts tick--as well as how one even defines introverts and how even in the realm of introverts there are vast differences.  First, in watching this, and then in reading her book, I knew I had some misconceptions on what introverts mean.

Now, I'm not going to say I'm an expert in this field, but I do have some first-hand knowledge from the battlefield.  I thought introverts just mean shy and extroverts just mean outgoing.  Wrong.  It's a lot more complex than that.

With that being said, I will gradually explore the notion of being an introvert.  Because I am one.  This very subject was also mentioned in a past podcast episode by Mur Lafferty's I Should Be Writing where she herself confessed to being an introvert.

It's not all bad.

Being an introvert and also having a creative nature can have its advantages.  But that is for another day.