Escaping to fiction (with a little bit of nonfiction)

Sometime last week, I started coughing – a lot. I didn’t pay much mind to it, but I guess I should have. I woke up on Thursday morning with chest pain, the sensation that my lungs were on fire, and it hurt to breathe. I went to see a doctor and was diagnosed with an upper respiratory infection, possibly pneumonia. I was given a prescription for antibiotics and send on my way. I had asked if I was contagious and the doctor said yes.

 

Hello, quarantine! I was holed up in my bedroom after I got home with the antibiotics. Meanwhile, my teen son spent the evening disinfecting the house.

 

Now, normally, when I am in quarantine, I spend that time reading and writing. But I couldn’t do either of those things on the first day. I felt so terrible and reading made my head hurt. I actually spent that first day in bed, sleeping. I tried interacting with others on BlueSky, but it got to be too much to keep up with while only using my smartphone, so I put that off until I could get back to that proper. I did use Facebook, though, and got caught up on Instagram. But, mostly, I spent that first day resting and trying to get better. Doing any writing was out of the question! I could not put sentences together, though I did send brief messages and emails.

 

Then, the next day, I was able to read again. Yay! You would think that I would end up devouring books since I had so much time on my hands, but the truth is, the reading had to be done in episodes. I could read for a while before my head got fuzzy again. I used this recovered ability to read to catch up on reading stories I have saved on one of my email accounts. These stories are short works of fiction by writers such as Newton Webb through his newsletter, Newton’sTales of the Macabre and through publications such as Written Tales, Pen of the Damned and the sci-fi and fantasy e-zine, Androids and Dragons.

 

I have also been reading the horror anthology ebook, Dethfest Confessions: The Devil’s Playlist, (edited by Mark Tullius and Lyndsey Smith) on my Kindle.

 

Reading all of those stories really provided me with a sense of escape. It is so true that reading fiction helps us to escape from whatever situation we are in or wherever we are and to explore worlds and other dimensions. This is one of the reasons why I love reading fantasy; because it allows me to escape to other worlds. And those stories really provided that escape, too. I highly recommend those publications to anyone who likes to read fiction!

 

But I also read some nonfiction, too. I am subscribed to Cyan LeBlanc’s newsletters through Substack so I got caught up on some of those posts, mostly the ones in the Fan Boy newsletter. I have also been trying to finish reading the memoir, Pageboy by Elliot Page.

 

Aside from all this, though, I was doing what I could in wrapping up an interview with a self-published author for the November issue of the SPARREW Newsletter. This particular author is in the UK, and because of time differences, our conversations have been here and there through Facebook Messenger. For an interview that I thought would be done in a day has actually gone on for a few days. First he was sick while doing the interview, and now I am sick while wrapping up said interview! (We have just two questions left, at this point.) I was planning to send an early issue out today (11/23), but with this sickness, I will have to send it out after I am fully recovered. That will be sometime in the coming week.

 

There were times I was able to come out of my room, though. When there was no one else here and it was safe to wander about without getting anybody else sick. I had enough energy to do some laundry and take care of the dog's needs, as well as sit at the table to eat the pizza I ordered for dinner (thank goodness for contactless delivery!). But other than that, I have been in my room. Reading!

 

Mostly at this time, I am laid up in bed and trying to focus on getting better. I am actually starting to feel a little better today – well enough to write this blog post anyway (I am at the family computer with washed hands and wearing a mask!), but I know I still need to take it easy so I can get over this sickness and back on track with everything again. I am just glad I am finally able to write something. And read again!