By Liz Allie

Finding the motivation to write is difficult for me even in the best of situations. My most consistent excuse is time. “I don’t have time to write.” Over the last few weeks, I have had all the time in the world. One would expect that I have been writing like a fiend since my biggest obstacle has been thwarted in magnificent fashion by a pandemic.

Nowhere to go. No one to see. WRONG. 

As I sit down to write I wonder…does this even matter? People are dying, people are losing jobs and losing their business and I’m going to write yet one more mystery book? Who do I think I am?

I close my computer, put away my notebook and sit. Just sit. I look for distraction and turn on the television. I flip channels until I see something that catches my eye. I watch the program. I turn it off.

I pull out a book by the same name, The Murder at the Vicarage, by Agatha Christie. 

It is a book of fiction. It is a mystery. I read it. I feel better during this time of craziness and loss. I escape to Saint Mary Mead and when I return, I am ready to continue on here in the real world. 

I am no Agatha Christie, but I realize that writing does matter. Even my writing. Perhaps a hundred years from now, my words will provide relief or escape to someone when their world has been tipped on its head.

So, friends, write like no one is watching.