Roads, anxiety and lockdown

 I know that a lot of people, especially those with autism like me, had anxiety issues during lockdown. I did too. It wasn't just the unknown of it all and the uncertainty but how it affected my anxiety about going out on my own. Up until March I had been going really well. I had been able to cross my road on my own, walked ahead of my mum down the roads and in the shops with more confidence. And then, wham, came the lockdown and we couldn't go out unless absolutely necessary. Now that we are able to get out again for shopping, I have lost that bit of confidence. I am OK when it comes to walking about in our local chemist as the floor is flat but crossing the road is another matter. It isn't just me, it's my mum. She finds it hard to walk anyway, but I believe that because we hadn't been able to get out and walk, it has made her feet and ankles even worse and more swollen, making it harder for her to get out again. She can't walk on her own without me anymore, esp crossing the road. So that has gone for me for now. I feel that maybe in time I will get that confidence back and be able to get out on my own again. I felt that way before the lockdown. I felt there was a light at the end of the tunnel and I could get somewhere on my own. We shall see. It will come. I will have to keep telling myself that.

Review of writing goals

I went to look at this blog to see what my writing goals were so I could review them, and saw that was when I last posted here. Oops. How lax of me. That shall be one of my goals then, to blog more. I did read what my goals were, and have had to rethink a couple, either because of what I write or because of current circumstances. So, here we go.

Not to give up on sending sci-fi stories out. I have given up, mainly because I have realised that the type of sci-fi I write (and want to write) isn't what the magazines want. They want gritty types whereas mine are more gentle and clean. Am now thinking about still writing them but for my own collection to publish, possibly next year.

Promote my children's books in libraries. Due to the lockdown, this has had to be put on hold until when I can do so.

Promote my ghost stories more. I have been promoting them now and then on Facebook, esp in groups I belong to.

I have found another way to promote them - write them for magazines. So I have found a market for them, with one acceptance so far. Yours Fiction (a quarterly magazine) that publishes just fiction wants ghost stories, so I have sent them two more stories so far. Am working on another, and have a couple more in mind, which were going to be put in my short story collection. Which brings me to my next goal -

Get together a collection of my ghost stories to publish. I have started. I have found some on Word and have put them in one folder ready to print out again and read through.

Another way to promote ghost stories is to write more ebooks with them in. I have thought of another series with a helpful ghost in, which I've been jotting down notes about over the last couple of weeks.

Last goal. Write the last in my Singleton magical realism series. Am still writing that. I want to finish the first draft this month. I want to publish before autumn, when I feel that traditional published books will eventually be published.

New goal - to publish Alistair's story in August/Sept.

So, I shall catch up sometime soon about these.