Over the past two articles, we have how Co-vid 19 has affected careful planning of writers. We have seen how a writer and a storyteller, both have had plans for a novel and a show interrupted, both of which of who have had to learn to work around their various situations to get their work out there.
Not all artists and writers have been so lucky health-wise. One such case which is quite different from both of the previous situations I have talked about is with Manchester based thriller writer, Heather Burnside.
Heather over the past few years has had brought out up a impressive series of books covering series such as the Riverhill trilogy, the Manchester trilogy and is currently working on the Working girls series of books.
Heather unfortunately contracted the virus after lockdown and advises the beginning “ was difficult at first as I spent the first week in isolation with suspected Covid 19” She began “As my children were also ill with it, after my son had been working with Covid patients, it was a very worrying time.”
“For the first week or so I was less productive but then I decided I needed to knuckle down and try to carry on as normal” She carried describing things “For me, it’s been easier to adapt than for most people as I work from home anyway although I must admit it hasn’t been as quiet with all the neighbours off work and school. I am a procrastinator and I sometimes find it hard to get on with the writing but often, when I do, it helps me to escape to another world and gives me a bit of a buzz if I know I’ve had a good day’s writing”
Heather advised me thankfully she has since recovered this and like a lot of writers / artists have tried by doing a launch / reading on Skype after other readings / appearances were either cancelled or delayed. She described this experience as “ It was quite challenging to be honest as most of the people on the call weren’t used to Skype.”
“This meant that we had a lot of technical hitches” She concludes “Fortunately, we managed to soldier on despite the hitches and it didn’t go too badly. I’m attending an online event in November but it’s organised by somebody else. I don’t think I would organise another online event myself as I’m not knowledgeable enough on the technical side of things but I would certainly attend an event organised by somebody else who might be more familiar with the software. Also, we had about 20 people on the call whereas I’d only been used to a handful of people previously so I think smaller numbers are more manageable on Skype. I don’t regret the experience though. I think we’re lucky to have such technology at our disposal especially at a time when most people are confined to the home.”
Heather’s official website is https://heatherburnside.com
(Originally published on the Sunday Tribune on 12 June 2020)
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