OYSTERHOOD is reclusiveness or solitude, or an overwhelming desire to stay at home.

— @HaggardHawks

Yesterday’s sunset. My love and I went out on Wednesday and Thursday evenings, a dinner with friends and a dinner with strangers who might become friends. Tonight, it was just pizza night. But in a way, it was the most special of the nights – just us, sharing a pizza at the end of a long, difficult week. The home we visited on Wednesday was the place we met for the first time nearly five years ago. I still remember sitting around the dinner table that evening, thinking that my life was such a mess that it would probably never feel right again. I was surrounded by darkness. Five years later and so much has changed. Despite the challenges of the lockdown, all the horrible news flooding in mercilessly almost every day, there is the possibility of calm and love and light at the end of a day, a long difficult week.

Being able to socialise with vaccinated people is a great change, a huge relief, but after all these months in lockdown and limited gatherings with people, it is not easy. I feel more introverty than usual.

Good news from the book world: I met someone who will potentially help Karavan Press grow in unexpected ways – we are meeting again early next month to discuss details; we entered the GBAS Book Cover Design Awards with our six covers of 2021; two of our titles are coming out in early November and the last one towards the end of the month, hopefully in time for the … Karavan Press Literary Festival.

First bookings are coming in. I can’t wait to talk books with other readers and writers – all day long!

But tonight, all I am still capable of is sleep.

Be kind. Wear a mask. Support local. Get vaccinated, please.

“Physical distancing remains one of the key strategies to curb this pandemic.”

— NICD