Some days I wake up with a bit of positivity that helps to engage the creative flow inside me. Today was not such a day. I awoke with a heaviness even though I’ve taken a break from the news (as much as one can) and for once didn’t have dreams peppered with COVID. So, why am I in a state of world-weary ennui now? Is it a strange amalgam of quotidian, unrelenting, global bad news?
I decided to take a left turn and PRETEND that I can book a flight and leave for a trip abroad. So, I started a treasure map hunt of beautiful places on the sea. I started with Corfu since I just completed Season 4 of The Durrells in Corfu – on PBS. I moved on to Crete and then found a fabulous blog of two American young women living in Bavaria with their Sofia Adventures in and around the Balkans. I went on a desktop trip through pictures and even went so far as to see the price of booking a place on Santorini. $863 for 6-nights in a lovely beach location 800-feet from the sea at Perívolos. A girl can dream, right? It almost felt like this could become a reality before school kicks in again at the college mid-August.
That was until I looked up the COVID #s in Greece which is QUITE low (and I already knew that Americans are unwelcome in Europe this year). The latest news is that there are 49 new cases of the novel coronavirus there and 28 of them come from people entering from outside of the country. {deflated}. Dreaming over.
I stand up, stretch, and head downstairs to check on my laundry in the dryer. I turn on some downtempo chill electronica to spark something inside of me to write. I need to make SOMETHING of this Sunday mourning. (Yes, it’s the only way I’m spelling the word from now on.) I’m on chapter three of my first novella, Abra Imagining. I have several sequences I’ve been working on that need to be worked into the arc of the story and chapter three, I’ve decided, is the place to begin Abra’s journey.
One more plug for The Durrells in Corfu. This is THE BEST series to watch during these sad times. It literally lifts you up and away, taking your mind and soul to another place and time. Binge this.
