“When George Floyd happened – I don’t know how else to reference that – I was in grief. The grief was relentless, the deaths seemed relentless, the images and news stories circulating. I couldn’t escape. It wasn’t so much that I wasn’t writing, but that I was preoccupied. And because the pandemic was still going on, the spaces to grieve shifted. I felt the pandemic added an extra layer, and was a barrier to experiencing and sharing grief, so I decided to write pieces related to the pandemic.
”“After a decade of writing my debut book, it was released in the middle of a pandemic, and so all the events that first-time authors dream of – the book launch, writer’s festivals – were virtual. Before the pandemic, writers didn’t have to think about how to set a background for the optimal Zoom event or whether they needed to buy a ring light to have decent lighting. This year changed my idea of who I am as a writer in other ways too.