MarySmith’sPlace ~ Writing under lockdown

~ beetleypete

Please read the full link, to see if this book is something you would like to buy. In years to come, it will be a fascinating history of a small part of Scotland during the Coronavirus pandemic of 2020. (Kindle version available too)

Mary Smith's Place

I’m excited to be a contributor in a new anthology which provides a unique record of life in my Galloway, my own wee part of Scotland, during the first 12 weeks of lockdown.

Writedown: Lockdown in the Galloway Glens at the Time of Covid brings together the work of 22 writers, each with a Galloway connection. It is a collection of prose and poetry, hopefulness, hopelessness, anger, humour and quiet endurance in which the writers tell the story of a community dealing with life in unprecedented times.

The idea behind the project came from author Margaret Elphinstone, when her writing classes could no longer meet. Inspired by the Mass Observation project which encouraged ordinary people to keep wartime diaries, she invited anyone interested to contribute – 22 of us did.

Margaret said: “In times of trouble people want to be together but with lockdown people had to isolate, sometimes…

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25 thoughts on “MarySmith’sPlace ~ Writing under lockdown”

  3. I was most struck by her reflections on reading the early writings and seeing how optimistic they were. It is hard to remember back to when I thought this would be over by the end of summer 2020. Here clearly people have followed the motto “abandon all hope ye who enter here.”

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    1. Yes indeed, March seems a long time ago. I went out to celebrate my birthday in a restaurant on the 16th of that month. The first lockdown here started the next day, and the restaurant was almost empty. I remember saying to the friend who was with us that by next March we would be able to meet to do it again. Now I’m not so sure.
      Best wishes, Pete.

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  5. What a creative and valuable project! Let’s hope the idea spreads, it would be interesting to see how different parts of the world responded to the COVID-19 outbreak. Thanks for sharing Pete, I’ll check it out! C

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    1. My pleasure, Mary. I can easily imagine people reading this in 100 and 200 years time, and being fascinated. My Kindle copy has downloaded, so I just have to get around to reading it! 🙂
      Best wishes, Pete.

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