Pandemic and quarantine have done strange things to my creativity. While I have more time that I could devote to my pursuits, my focus and my motivation are periodically paralyzed. I am off balance in this situation, and in struggling to find my balance, I am also endeavoring to find ways to interpret and express the new ways I’m experiencing my artistic emotions.
Writing has been a particular struggle. Fiction seems largely pointless. I don’t want to write about viruses or pandemics or quarantines, but another other setting or premise seems mute at the moment. And the last thing I want to do is force myself. I am reserving that energy for caging my extroverted self within my own walls and homeschooling my energetic children.
I have always loved photography, being in front of and behind the lens. I can’t shoot with Pratique Photography (or any other photographers) right now, and even if I could, now does not seem like the time for fake blood. Yet I needed something to process my confined experience. I decided to play with the concept of a selfie series, inspired by the bipolar concept shot with Randy Poe Photography.
I wanted to capture all my varied quarantine emotions, so my quarantine selfie series ended up being almost my stages of quarantine.
Imbalance
Denial
Teacher
Tethered
Depression
Paranoia
Worry
Isolation
Quiet
Lethargy
Altered
Suffocation
As a side note, it did deeply irk my writer brain that the titles of the photos are not congruent (Depressed, Suffocated, Isolated OR Depression, Suffocation, Isolation). However, I couldn’t bring myself to trade the word I wanted to fit a pattern.
Fiery Pen 
Boy howdy, you are not alone! But I can say with some authority (having been in this exact place when my mother was dying of cancer and I was her caretaker) that feeling that writing is trivial if not pointless right now is normal — especially for Horror writers. It just means you are aware of the severity of the moment, the importance of human life… The block will pass when the time is right. For now just take it all in…experience it. If I know anything about your writing, it is that any pandemic-inspired work (when it comes) will be worth the wait.
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Wise words! I will keep them in mind and keep pressing along. Thanks, KC!
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