Conundrum: COVID19 and Books

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I’m telling you nothing new regarding the rules about ‘Stay home. Wash your hands.’ These are the two that have been in my thoughts every single hour of every single day for the last two months. I even dream about it. Staying home has never been a problem for me. I have been so busy writing the long-awaited sequel to my book “We Don’t Talk About That.” When this ‘house arrest’ order came, I thought, “Now is the time to finish “Flight Into The Unknown.” Now I have the time! Well, my friends, I always had the time, but I was procrastinating. Now I had no reason to wait.

My problem was I had too much material. The “Flight Into The Unknown” would have been overbooked, overloaded with too many stories, too much baggage. What to leave out? Many months ago, Lyn Alexander, my editor, had suggested making my memoir into a series. “Series are in,” she had told me. “Divide what you have in this ‘Flight’ manuscript and write a third book.” I was fighting it.

“I don’t want to write a third book!”

During COVID lockdown, I finished book # 2 at a perfect place. There was no way I could avoid writing a third book. My final thought was,  “it’s time to set sail for life after 50.” And it became the title for book # 3, the last book in my memoir series “The Nine Lives of Gila.” Did I have nine lives? Probably more, but cats were on my mind. Cats are supposed to have nine lives. And I had lived through and survived frightening experiences just like a cat.

COVID influenced me to create the following series, “The Nine Lives of Gila.”

Book 1: “We Don’t Talk About That,” the amazing story of survival WWII and its aftermath.
Book 2: “Flight Into The Unknown,” smartly manipulated into marrying an unknown penfriend and emigrate to Canada.
Book 3: “Set Sail for Life After 50.” Realizing that age is just a number, I saw the world as my oyster.

The first two books are available as e-books and printed books on all well-known internet outlets. Expect book #3 to make an appearance in September 2020. E-books are no problem, but COVID is at fault that Canadians only have limited access to get the printed versions from Amazon.ca – I haven’t even seen my own “Flight” in print. The ‘powers that be’ have closed the borders for large shipments of books printed in the USA. Book shops & libraries are closed. When is the restriction lifted? No idea. It depends on how COVID develops. Books are not essential!

What? Not essential? Books are very essential for locked-down people. It’s helpful to read, to avoid going crazy, to immerse ourselves in reading stories of another life.

 

9 thoughts on “Conundrum: COVID19 and Books”

    • Adele, you must have read it as an e-book! Please, write a few comments about what you felt and thought about the “Flight” on my website/reviews. I’d appreciate that. Thanks!

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  3. My review:
    “A vivid, thrilling memoir
    I’ve been in love with Roeder’s writing since I read We Don’t Talk About That, the first book in her memoir series. After turning the last page of The Flight Into The Unknown, I knew I’d be impatiently waiting for the series finale, Set Sail for Life After 50 she has promised to publish later this year. I could talk at length about her literary talent, about the voice and style her writing carries (it’s brilliant) yet you’ll discover it for yourself from the very first page when you open her books. The emotions her prose evokes! That’s what makes her books unforgettable, that’s what takes the reader on the journey! I lived through every episode of her life; I experienced the feelings she had along the way. I laughed and cried with the author; was upset or infuriated; felt hurt and joy. This is an incredible life story of a person you’ll love and empathize with. I can highly recommend it to all fans of memoirs and just for readers interested in learning about lives of amazing, courageous, and self-motivated people.”

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  4. Thank you so very much, Marina. You make me feel humble, telling me you felt what I felt.
    Our native people say, “to understand a person you have to walk in their mocassins for a mile or two.” You seem to be doing that by reading my story. I wish – yes, I can only say “thanks.”

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  5. Another book??? Wow, you certainly are prolific with nerves of steel and someone to help you. Amazing. This is a surprise to me. I could NEVER, EVER go through this again. Other than the writing, I detested every other step along the way. You go girl!!! You are amazing.

    >

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  6. Laverne, I have to finish what I started. I owe it to my readers. I just hope that COVID doesn’t kill me before I’m done. I feel exhausted, anxious, I can’t sleep. But, so far, life has to go on. It’s like in a war, you don’t know what comes tomorrow, or the next minute. You just keep … going.

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