Today’s #writerinlockdown FRONTLINE MEDIC JACK MANN #amwriting #amediting #lockdown #lockdownUK

Lockdown. Right now, I would so love to be in a real lockdown, with hours of time to write with. I’ve planned out the sequels to my first novel, Gravity’s Arrow, a hundred times in my head, while rocking my youngest to sleep. These books need to be written!

My protagonist, Fhiro, will be in his twenties, finishing his tour with special forces, ready to embark on a career in politics, like a roman on the cursus honorum, except in the far future Kartnan Empire. I’ve got the twists worked out. Excited about the challenge of conjuring an atmosphere of intrigue and paranoia.

But alas, other work has to take priority. If I’m home I’m helping with the children, or working. And when I’m not home, I’m still going to work.

My day job of diagnosing and curing skin cancers is winding down as we reduce activity. Reduced to free up bodies to help fight the Covid. Successive waves of doctors have been redeployed, and my time is coming.

Myself and the other most recently appointed consultant to our team will be the first of us sent to the front line, the juniors having already gone. Hoping I’ve already recovered from being infected without realising it. Hoping I’m already immune, and the virus doesn’t mutate much.

It will feel good to help, but there’re a lot of very bad scenarios for that good feeling to overcome. The possibility of inhaling a high viral load, and winding up in intensive care or dead. The prospect of tending to countless people while they die despite our best efforts. I may have to move out of my house to avoid spreading infection to my family.

So if anyone of you has writer’s block, feel free to read Gravity’s Arrow! Hearing how much people enjoyed it is an amazing mood booster.

Best of luck to you all,

Jack

Gravity's Arrow

The story behind the creation of Gravity's Arrow