What Day Is It?

It’s the forty billionth day of quarantine, or at least it feels like it. 

It’s Monday. Monday is my blog day.

It’s May the 4^th, Star Wars Day. My husband is wearing one of his many Star Wars shirts, as expected. 

It’s also Children’s Book Week, if you’re the literary type. We all have our favorites—Banana Girl loved Knuckle Bunny, the Princess loved Piggy Pie. I was partial to the Wizard of Oz series that my dad used to read me at night. 

It’s someone’s birthday, maybe a lot of someones. 

As we sit here in our homes doing the same thing over and over again, it’s hard to remember the day of the week, so every little “special calendar day” helps. 

I look at my calendar a lot less than I used to. It’s not like I’m going anywhere. However, looking at the week as a whole, seeing what I had scheduled before life got cancelled and postponed—fewer and fewer things as this quarantine lengthens—does show me the passage of time, and reminds me that one day, life will resume, my calendar will fill up again. 

In the meantime, I watch my flowers grow and the trees bud and the birds return to build their nests. The weather warms up and summer approaches. And one of these days, life will return to normal, or some semblance thereof. 

In the meantime, find something to keep your spirits up and stay healthy, and celebrate the little things. 

Ads In The Age of Quarantine

I’ve lost track of the days and weeks. When I try to figure out exactly how long we’ve been social distancing, it seems like forever, and it certainly doesn’t help my mood, so I don’t. However I do know I’m cooking all the time, cleaning and doing dishes constantly, and each day is similar to the one before.

However, today I’m trying something new. I’m taking a free class online that teaches you how to get the most profit out of Amazon ads. A snooze for most people, but for authors, Amazon is essential. I’m not sure if it’s quarantine brain kicking in or if I was never told all of the information, but I’m not quite sure how often the class is given or how long it runs. Hey, it’s not like I have anything else going on, so as long as I keep getting the emails, I’m good. 

Today’s class had us set up an ad to start and which, I assume, we’ll use to compare in later classes. It was pretty easy, which quite possibly means I did something wrong, but I’ll know for sure if/when Amazon approves it. 

I’ve got to say, it’s a pretty clever thing for this guy to do. He’s an author and an expert at marketing. Running a free class during quarantine pretty much assures that people will take it, as well as his future classes that aren’t free. And it allows authors, like me, to actually see if people are buying books during quarantine or not. Not to mention, it gives us something to do, and offers us a community to join.

So, I’m curious. If you’re an author, what kinds of advertising do you find most successful? And if you’re a reader, is quarantine affecting your reading/purchasing habits?

Tell me!

Back to Basics

I’ve lost track of how long we’ve been quarantined. I know it’s absolutely essential to continue. I know essential workers have a much tougher time than I do, risking their lives daily so I can eventually get back to normal. I know I’m lucky to be with my family.

I tell myself those things daily. It’s my new mantra when I wake up. But that doesn’t stop me from frustration. And it didn’t stop me from completely melting down this weekend.

But it’s Monday, my used-to-be favorite day of the week. I say “used-to-be” because back when we were allowed to leave our homes, Monday was the day my life at home got back to normal when everyone else left for school and work. Now? Our daily routines are the same and everyone is always here.

However, it’s a new day and a new week, and I’m actually able to see some benefits to this situation.

My kids have been amazing. Humble brag here, but they haven’t fought. I know, I just jinxed it. They’ve gotten along, they’re actively practicing tolerance with each other—I can see it, although I’m smart enough not to comment on it. They’re not perfect and they have their moments, but considering their lives have been completely upended, they’re doing better than I ever could have predicted. 

The Princess is finally enjoying family games. She never likes them, so this is huge. Granted, it’s only one game, and the rest of us are going to get tired of it (especially since she’s good at it) eventually, but I’ll play it every day just to see the smile in her eyes.

We’re doing a family puzzle. My husband has tried for years to get everyone to do a puzzle together. He was so unsuccessful that I managed to convince him to get rid of all the ones we had put away for the family to do, since the family wasn’t going to do them. Well, guess who asked to do one? So we pulled out one that we’ve had for twelve years, still shrink wrapped, from our family vacation to England and France (remember those days when we could travel???). And we’ve started working on it. Together. Did I mention no one is fighting? Despite the very different ways we all approach puzzles. 

My girls are cooking and baking. On one of the days this weekend when I completely lost it, my husband took me on a walk to clear my head. I grumbled the entire time. But I came home to a meal cooked by The Princess! And yesterday, Banana Girl made slutty brownies (oh my god, they’re delicious and I don’t care that Passover is right around the corner).

We linger over dinner, the four of us, finding things to talk about other than our day, which remains the same. We check in on each other and our family and friends. And while life is definitely smaller and more contained, I also feel like it’s growing—kinda like the Grinch’s heart, but without the cheesy music.

So, no matter how bad it is, and I recognize it’s bad, work hard to find the small joys. They’re there. And identifying them just might make them grow.

Stay safe, stay inside, and flatten the curve!