At the beginning of April seven bloggers began to write down their lockdown experiences for a week. Each one a very personal voice of their daily lives.
Lockdown Diaries Project
The initial idea was mine. Seven days, seven people.
I asked some of my blogging friends to contribute. Choosing those who for one reason or another were surviving different experiences. Be it because of having a child to look after, working or disabled. My own experience was also individual as I am not spending lockdown in my own home. Along the way every blogger input ideas to the project.
So, I want to start by saying a MASSIVE thank you to
- SubMissy
- His Lordship
- Posy Churchgate
- Jae Lynn
- Sweetgirl
- MLSlave
Each voice you hear in the lockdown diaries is different from the others. The completed book makes a very interesting read.
We first began promoting by individually posting one diary day on our blogs. You can find a link to all seven of those here, and then decide if you would like to read the whole book.
Excerpts
And, here are a few quotes to wet your appetite…
- I go cold, I feel sick to my stomach. I keep staring at his text knowing that if I wait too long, he’ll know I’m also thinking the worst.
- The upshot was my stepdaughter threatening to self-isolate in her bedroom for 14 days and me suggesting I live in my office at work for the same period as compromise.
- This usually ends with a cane session, although this has been hit and miss (pun intended hehe) over the last few months.
- I had a panic attack last night just as I was falling asleep. I haven’t had an attack in a very long time, so it caught me off guard.
- Her reply to the pupil humbles me and reminds me that I am seeing more humanity each and every day from people I know, than has been the case for a long time.
- I felt emotional and saw a tweet from a friend saying she’d had a tear, and as I read I realised my face was streaming with them.
- Has the attitude of the world changed? Could people adjust to flying less, driving less and meeting-up remotely? Can we sustain being kinder, more supportive…?
Don’t be an Echo
I must say this has not been the easiest of times. Various hostilities arose on twitter and then others began to echo the instigators. Which in my opinion was not necessary. After all why not be a positive voice, rather than someone’s echo?
The whole debacle, along with my difficult lockdown situation, has left me feeling disconnected and detached. I am strong but my mental health has taken a knock.
Celebrate
But I want to be positive and celebrate the completed project. As many people worked hard and creatively which is definitely worth shouting about.
As well as the seven diaries I asked seven other bloggers to write a flash quote as to what the lockdown meant/felt personally to them. I got some very different views which added a brilliant touch. Thank you to
- Eye
- Marie
- SassyCat
- Floss
- Devie
- Cousin Pons
- Elliott
for providing these.
Working through this creative challenge made me realise just how many online friends I do have. All the people mentioned here and so many more. I appreciate every one of you.
Amazon
At the moment the book is only available online but we are going to do a paperback version too.
UK link…
USA link can be found here – Seven days in April
The header image was taken at the necropolis in Glasgow.
hi, I’ve read several writings from Posy and Missy. And higly appreciated them. Also I would like to admit that you, May, had organized this activity and very well done! Its important to keep people together. Especially in lockdown.
I’m lookng forward for your new collaborations, writings and victories! Take care
Thank you – glad you have liked the diary entrys – and nice to see u 😉
A brilliant project in these trying times, May. I would love to own the book once it’s out on a paper version. Thank you for inviting me to join in your project. And like you say… don’t be an echo.
Rebel xox
It certainly kept a few of us busy and that was a good thing as we created something which I think we are all proud of xx
My pleasure ML. I think you added a really contrasting perspective
xx
Thank you for letting me be a part of what feels like a meaningful project and for bringing me together with other people. It feels special to have been a part of this collaboration and it helped me a lot to write about my days in that week
A great post and thank you so much for inviting me to be part of it. I learnt a lot through writing the seven entries actually and have really enjoyed reading what others have written too 🙂
Always a pleasure working alongside you Missy xx
It must be satisfying watching it all come together! A very cool idea!
Thanks you – I think it was a worthwhile thing to do so am proud of what we achieved 😉
It was a fascinating project and reading the finished book really brought home our very different points of view and how we each had different and yet similar challenges.
Thank you for inviting me.
Sweetgirl
Yours were uplifting and made me think – u not being mobile and still keeping positive – I admire you Sweet xx
It was interesting to make myself think like a diarist in order to participate i liked reading what the others wrote when we began to publicise it. Now I’ve read the whole book and I feel proud that you invited me and fascinated by the differences between our situations and how we handled the lockdown.
I am so happy you picked up the challenge Posy. I think we all learned that it was not always comfortable or easy to complete them and we all reflected during that week. I loved your entries – you picked up on little details that I certainly forgot to include. Seven different people. Thank you for being one of them xx
Thank you May, that’s very generous feedback
Thank you for asking me to participate, I’m looking forward to reading the book.
And I linked to your post in this article Elliott – the online book one is available but I know u prefer print – we are working on that too x