We've been holed up since March 14th, when we got back from an ill-advised trip to New Orleans. One of my best friends is in biotech as if his wife. They had been tracking the Corona virus through China and hoping it wouldn't jump out of the country. Alex had made some vague remarks to me at our last book group meeting. When he got worried, he called me. I got his call as Diane and I arrived in New Orleans. Our first day there was the day they detected Louisiana's first case. That was a Tuesday. We cut the trip short when we discovered the Navy was closing the Pensacola aviation museum because virus threat. During the trip we ate a lot fabulous food in several crowded New Orleans Restaurant and flew on four different crowded jets with one very crowded delay at a terminal in the Los Angeles Airport. We self quarantined immediately and may be simultaneously with Gavin Awesome's stay home order (yes I renamed him!) Self confining for us hasn't been much different that retirement generally except we can no longer go out to lunch or dinner a couple of times a week, and I suddenly seem to be doing a whole lot of shopping on Amazon. The toughest thing in our local population has been the large number (roughly a third of our casualties in Sacramento, CA) who contracted the disease while attending religious services, both before and after the stay home order. We're staying safe and hope you are too.

We've been home and sheltering-in-place for 8 days today (but who is counting). Like you I've found it is an adjustment Matt :) First thing I discovered--my husband makes ALL his calls on speaker phone (who does that?). At least now he remembers to close his office door (progress is incremental right). I gave myself last week away from actively writing. I did however re-read one of my completed manuscripts. This week it is back to the races--but I am also going to allow for the impact of so many people (5) in the house and for extraordinary circumstances. After all we have to pace ourselves. Stay safe all!

The first week+ of working from home and online schooling for my two girls has been a trying affair. I'm generally much more productive at my office, and by being at home all the time, I think my work has suffered. I know my fiction writing has also, because I haven't done any. Most of my fiction is done on the train, and there's been no commuting, hence, no writing. Plus, since one of my daughters is autistic, she needs both my wife and me to help her during her online classroom time. This has been a big challenge, but we're getting through it. Routine is such a big part of her life, and every routine has been disrupted. That's true for all of us, of course. I am trying to re-establish routines -- or rather establish new ones -- and so I've been a bit incommunicado here lately. I am back and never far away. I need my writerly community!

Hope all of you are safe and that your loved ones are too.

As a homebody trying to reinvent themselves as a writer, the social distancing and such hasn't directly impacted me so much. My wife's going a little stir crazy, but otherwise we're fine. Stocked pantry, frugal habits, all that. Yet the writing suffers. Mood issues (a lifelong spectre) are the root cause, and these are exacerbated by the current crises (C-19 being the latest and greatest, but not the only). So despite being largely distraction-free, and being at the computer trying to write at least half the waking day virtually every day, I'm not producing. Not great news artistically. But we're healthy, as is everyone we know (we think - one friend is waiting on test results), and we're not missing payments or going hungry or whatever, so all told I'd say we're in the pink! :) And we hope everyone else is, too.