It’s hard to believe it has been 6 months since most of us first hunkered into lockdown. Half a year already, like a blink of an eye—but an eternity at the same time. I hope all of you and your loved ones have been staying safe and healthy, and that you’ve discovered interesting new ways to work as well as to spend your free time.

For my part, I still can’t seem to find enough hours in the day to write, edit, and learn new software tools to assist me in my craft (Pixlr, Book Brush, and Canva for graphics, and Audacity for audio). It’s mind-blowing what amazing freeware one can find on the internet these days. As a result, I will have some very exciting news to share with you in the near future—hopefully in my next post.

One of my 2020 resolutions is to go back and tackle some books I’ve had on my to-read list for quite a while now. For unexplainable reasons, I’ve picked up these books before, gone through the first 30-50 pages, and somehow ran out of steam (interest) to continue. This happened to me more than once (sometimes twice or thrice) before with these books. And they are widely acclaimed works by well-respected authors too, not just some random bad picks, mind you. But over the past 6 months I stuck to my guns, and my books, and I’m glad to report that I have now finished, and thoroughly enjoyed, The Prince of Tides by Pat Conroy, Midwives by Chris Bohjalian, All Creatures Great and Small by James Herriot, and The Deep End of the Ocean by Jacquelyn Mitchard. Aside from those titles, I also read and reviewed The Politically Incorrect Guide to the Vietnam War by Phillip Jennings, a Vietnam War veteran and a new friend.

For my new writing projects, I’ve had to go back and revisit my first book, Once upon a Mulberry Field. I was reminded of how much effort I had put into recapturing the late sixties’ atmosphere for the book, partly through the music of that time. It gave me a great excuse to wander down memory lane and re-listen to old songs (Vietnamese, French, and American) that were all the rage during my middle and high school days—again courtesy of the internet, via YouTube. There wasn’t a single title, no matter how old or obscure, that I wanted to find but could not. It is truly a great wonder of technology to be able, at the click of a mouse, to bring back memories of a bygone time.

And that’s how I’ve been keeping myself busy the past few months, which helped take my mind off the crazy happenings of this crazy year. What about you? Do share some of your experience here with us, won’t you? Keep safe and sane and healthy, until we meet again, hopefully soon!