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<\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\nIn Canada, we were put into lockdown in March. Overnight, my \u201coffice job\u201d became my \u201ccouch job\u201d. That\u2019s okay, though. I\u2019m used to computer-ing on the couch. After all, this is where I\u2019ve written and published my first three novels. Going off the fact Shakespeare wrote some of his best works while in quarantine during the bubonic plague, I thought I should at least be able to get my fourth novel out the door. Right?<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Right??<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, here it is December. I literally have not been into my office in nine months, and I’m not joking. My corner of Canada has been in strict lockdown to the point where we can be fined or even sent to jail for having a Christmas party. (Again. No joke). I leave my house for essentials only, because if crowds gave me the willies before COVID, they are a frickin’ hive of pestilence and disease now! Amazon has become my shopping destination of choice, food delivery apps keep the family from eating each other, and walking the dog is like a get-out-of-jail-free card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I\u2019ve been stuck at home for nine f\u2019ing months, and what have I written?<\/p>\n\n\n\n Well, I shouldn\u2019t be too hard on myself. Given the state of the world, my anxiety has been through the roof. Although the dreaded panic attacks have been few, and the ocular migraines have been even fewer, I have developed mild claustrophobia. There have been those heart-pounding times where I\u2019ve gotta get the crap outta the house or I\u2019ll suffocate. Thankfully Mochi loves extra walkies. And I think she also knows when I\u2019m having my moments because she gets super cuddly. We\u2019ll snuggle on the couch and watch Netflix until I calm down. Of course, now she\u2019s so used to getting pets and cuddles while I\u2019m working, she thinks she can have them whenever she wants. So, we\u2019re still learning.<\/p>\n\n\n\n I have managed to start a new series\u2014a fantasy series I\u2019m planning on crafting into a multi-book epic fantasy set in a world that underwent an industrial revolution, promptly started a war, then lost all that revolutionary knowledge. The kicker is everyone can use magic in some form or another. Crafting that world has kept me busy. I\u2019d say this is steampunk The Wheel of Time<\/em> meets Game of Thrones<\/em>\/A Song of Ice and Fire<\/em>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n My \u201ctrapped in a video game\u201d novel has also received some love over the endless months of lockdown. I\u2019m thinking of splitting it into two books . . . more of a \u201cVideo Game Novel, Part I\u201d and \u201cVideo Game Novel, Part II” sort of deal, since the point where the manuscript breaks into the next novel by no means makes a cohesive story, nor does it allow the first \u201cbook\u201d to tie up any plot threads. The manuscript is creeping up on 300K words. Seeing what my 120K YA novel looked like coming out of KDP, a novel at 300K would not only be a door stop, but a ridiculous doorstop at that. I got this idea from SAO and Alice in Borderland manga\u2019s (Netflix has a live action adaptation of Alice, so you should go watch it RIGHT NOW!) Same premise as both: players are stuck in a game while the game is trying to kill them.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<\/a><\/a><\/a><\/a><\/figure>\n\n\n\n