When I look back over the months, I oft wonder how time could have gone by so fast. Somehow, without my knowing, it is now spring here in Australia. When COVID-19 first struck, the month of March felt terribly slow. It seemed as if I were caught in a constant state of anxiety. Even now, it still feels as if life has paused. I’m stuck in an endless cycle of days. Time has blurred and I can barely remember what I did the week before. The only difference is the occasional video game, new book or brand new television series on Netflix. On the rare occasion, I might see someone I know. 

Despite that, I’ve been keeping up with a lot of my writing. After wrapping up and editing both Wild Child and Monsters Beneath Our Bed, I’ve begun a new project of writing what might be described as a corporate conspiracy and intrigue story. It isn’t part of my normal purview and it’s been quite a challenge trying to figure things out from a modern standpoint. Trying to balance the realism and the more scientifically advanced elements of the story has proven to be a challenge. Often, I’ve wanted to take a step back or throw my hands up in defeat. Instead I’ve kept my head down and kept working on it.

The one lesson I’ve learned after writing in my spare time that the best way to get past an obstacle is through. Just keep writing and somehow my brain will magically spin out a cohesive narrative. When all the ideas and words have been splurged onto the page, it’s then a matter of fixing continuity errors and polishing the rough gem into a diamond. 

In any case, the main idea about my new story – title: Control State is actually due to the reboot of The Mummy franchise and a suggestion from my own mother after we watched the film. She suggested an adventurous tale involving dust storms and air pollution. Thus, the concept that a main character interested in the environment, heading to China to develop nanotechnology to combat climate change was born. The bushfires in Australia only served to exacerbate the clamour for a fictional story where a solution for climate change and poor air quality.

It also helped that for a good long while I was also toying with the idea of having an evil institute made up of the initials of the first names of several of my friends. Double Helix Institute was what I hoped the corporation would be called. However, in the end I settled on Dominus Hominum Industries. Latin, as is always the case, the greatest ally in the creation of names that have not already been stolen. 

(And, after much thought, it didn’t seem right to make allusions to DNA when the story revolved around nanotechnology rather than the human genome.)

I do apologise to my friends for unwittingly using the initials of their first names for my evil corporation. Alas, my desire to incorporate those I know into these make-believe stories was too strong. Besides, Control State might never have come to fruition without already having a general idea of an evil megacorporation trying to better the human race floating somewhere in my brain.

Alas, my short stories have taken quite a hit. Still, after experimenting with a diary format in Disaster Relief, I’ve headed back to more familiar waters. Suddenly Thirteen is a twist on time travel and a couple of movies that came out in the 2000s. With my ten year reunion coming up, it came as no surprise that I had a mountain of regrets. Scrolling through Facebook, it’s hard to reconcile that the person I was best friends with during primary school is a complete stranger now that I’m older.

Rather than sending them a Facebook message, however, I’ve simply continued to lurk occasionally on their profile (and write a story, of course!). One of these days, I’ll break free of this introverted cocoon I’ve woven around myself. Until then, I’m perfectly happy ensconced inside my fortress of solitude as I watch the world go by.