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Writers Connecting (While Mourning Flour)

Who cares about toilet paper? Use my old drafts. But flour? That’s where I’m calling a foul.

Don’t worry. I’m not keeping up with the sports metaphor. No one needs that right now (except maybe Armin Tolentino, poet and watcher of boxy, hitty-hitty-things). 

What we need right now is cake. My friend Orit Ofri has been turning it out like it’s coming out of her faucet. I wish I could sneak over to her house and eat all the homemade chocolate cake. 

But I’m at my house, where we are eating like the 90’s teenagers we are. I had Doritos last night. Waffles this morning. My husband bought Zebra Cakes too, but those lasted as long as my patience. 

Everything is getting cancelled, postponed, or moved online. My keynote at the Oregon Writer’s Colony got shifted to question mark. Shadow Queene will launch at Annie Bloom’s … FACEBOOK!

I’m sad about the flour, but excited that I get to share the launch with so many of you, from Geneseo to Rhode Island!

Life goes on in the middle of this mess. We can’t look to the other side of it because, honestly, some of us might not be on the other side of it. 

So, as my friend Claire Chiaravalle said, she’s going to be putting on her Quarantine Fifteen, and I’m going to be putting on my life. 

That means I’m scared and happy and sad and all the emotions right now. But in all of that, I’m happy to be here with you.

Keep creating,

Kate

For Writers Connecting: Stuff you can do online this week or tell everyone you are doing while you binge watch old epsiodes of Xena Warrior Princess

First off, good for you, writers connecting and getting out in the world. Also, good for you if you just watched four seasons of the Great British Baking Show.

But if you want friends instead of cake, you’re weird, but here’s some suggestions for this week:

  1. Poet and forever friend, Kate Gray, is hosting a phone call, with a quick intro and writing time every weekday at 9AM Pacific. Check it out on her Facebook page. Kate’s voice is calm and her words are inspiring. Oh the community on that line!
  2. Wordcrafters in Eugene is hosting Write-Ins every Monday at 2PM. Love the work they are doing.
  3. Willamette Writers has opened up all their chapter meetings (free, online, and craft-oriented). I’ll be at most of them myself. Here’s the event calendar.
  4. Eric Witchey is writing alongside other authors at different times throughout the week. Find him on Facebook and see what he’s up to. His heart is bigger than my ability to make metaphors. 

We all don’t want to feel alone. We want to feel like we feel after that first bite of cake. Reach out with a big heart and connect with an open mind. And if you can’t right now, I get that too. 

Articles from smart people

Support you didn’t realize you needed below. Or distraction. We need it all. 

British people tell us how to stay happy in troubled times

Help for parents feeling isolated

For those of you running events

Andrew Lloyd Weber Musicals Available (in case you ran out of Baking episodes)

Yep, it’s still happening. With bells, and whistles, right in your living room.