LIFE IN LOCKDOWN

My thirty years of writing for children have been peppered with school visits and festival appearances, a vital income stream for any author. Although I enjoy them enormously (I would have been a primary school teacher in another life, creating a fab environment in my classroom and producing the school plays), I've always dreamt of an uninterrupted period where I could concentrate on writing, and solely on my writing.

    One of my big dreams is to write an adult detective novel. I have scores of notebooks filled with ideas, plots and character sketches for it. My office walls are festooned with story maps and photos taken on fact-finding sorties to my favourite countries. Am I making use of them? Am I, hell. Sorry for the swear-word but now that uninterrupted writing opportunity has been thrust upon me, I'm finding it incredibly difficult to settle down in my newly decorated office and write. 

    My daily routine has been shattered. No endless trips to coffee shops on Scarbrough seafront with my macbook and pens. No browsing in charity shops and flea markets while mulling over ideas. I am stuck at home and everywhere I look there are procrastination opportunities that are proving impossible to resist. 

    This week, after finding out that there are thousands of people in the same situation as me,  I've taken the big decision to drop the guilt and embrace my period of self-isolation. So here's what I've been up to on lockdown.

   

I've been working on my garden. I've sown tomatoes, repaired a roofless pergola and planted climbers. Unable to go to the ironmonger's, I've made planters using bits of wood, nails and wire found in the shed.

I've been expanding my cooking repertoire. I've taught myself to make proper curry, I've experimented with different kinds of bread making and cooked myself a birthday pie.

I've gone for great walks in my neighbourhood, increasing my foot-count every week. 

Perhaps best of all,  I've been spending time chatting with my family overseas. Here's a picture of my parents in lockdown on Malta. They don't seem too distressed. Let's hope I can visit them again in the flesh.

Keeping sane in an insane world, by Saviour Pirotta

I was hoping to post about my new play at the Stephen Joseph Theatre this month but as all theatres are currently dark, there's not much point. My version of Little Red Riding Hood will take to the boards at some point. Meanwhile, I am self-isolating. Three weeks of school visits for wbd plus a weekend literary festival had left me exhausted and with a wracking cough. Two weeks later I am, thankfully, right as rain but have decided to stay indoors for the foreseeable future.

But how to keep sane in this scary new world? As a single person, I am constantly out and about with my notebooks and laptop. One of the reasons I moved to Scarborough nearly four years ago was the abundance of seafront cafes. I always start a new project in one of them. It's not only the view and the coffee that I find invigorating and inspiring; it's the interaction with baristas and cafe owners some of whom I now count as friends.  Since my play Granny's Exploding Toilet played to packed houses last year, I am recognised on the streets and the glow of conversation in shops and on the beach often see me through the many silent hours at home.

The only way to beat the isolation, I decided, is to keep in touch with people through social media (now if I can only convince my octogenarian parents in Malta to get SKYPE), and to keep busy as much as possible. I've made a to-do list and I'm going to try and stick with it. I shall come out of this frightening experience both empowered and more focused. Here's the list.

1) WORK ON THOSE PROJECTS I'VE NEVER HAD TIME FOR
Being freelance, I've always plumped for the jobs that had the best chance of coming true. Now's the time to tackle a longer-term project that needs all my attention.

2) EXPERIMENT WITH COOKING
I've always been a cook. I love messing around in the kitchen although I hate the washing up. As my career took on more and more of my time, though, I learnt to rely on ready cooked meals and takeaways. That's going to change. I've made a list of favourite dishes eaten on holiday, and I'm going to learn to recreate them. I've already mastered the delicious split pea soup I had on tap in Istanbul. Tonight it's the prawn Saganaki from Corfu. Hopefully, I'll carry this newfound enthusiasm for healthy eating to the times when I can pop over to Sainsbury's at the drop of a hat again.

3) GROW MY OWN VEGETABLES

I'm lucky to have a garden. There's not been much time to look after it since I've moved in but this year I'm going to try and grow flowers and vegetables from seed. I've planted a buddleia too, which should attract a lot of butterflies.

4) READ WAR AND PEACE
I started reading this forty years ago on a train from Paris to Munich. Somehow, I left my copy on the train and I've never had the time to get back to it. Now's the perfect opportunity.

So, I'm aiming to read and write more, listen to music, cook and bake and garden. Let's all share the fruits of our self-isolating endeavours online. As the Italian proverb says, 'canta che ti passa'. Sing and it'll pass.