When I wrote in my last post that I wouldn't be visiting any second-hand bookshops for a while because of COVID-19, I had no idea that seven months later I'd still be spending pretty much all my time at home. Melbourne went into a second wave at the end of June, and we've all been tightly locked down since July - and particularly since August when a 5km travel radius was brought in, along with a curfew, and a 1-hour (later extended to 2-hour) exercise limit.
Although I haven't been able to visit real bookshops, I've been spending a bit of time creating a fictional one. I've been writing stories for The People's Friend magazine for just over a year now, and in June came up with the idea for a story set in a second-hand bookshop in the fictional English village of Haweshill. It was published this week, and I've had two more stories about Matilda and her bookshop accepted, and there's a fourth currently in the system.
Melbourne's cases are now minimal, and we're all hoping to be able to find a COVID-normal soon. I'm looking forward to exploring real bookshops again at some point soon.
Well done on the sales. A second-hand bookshop does sound like a good story location.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Patsy. It's been great to be able to write about a bookshop while I haven't been able to visit any.
ReplyDelete