What to Report When There's Nothing to Report

These days of Covid-19 all-day every day on cable news, in the daily papers and on peoples' lips have created an unpleasant monotony that sours life around us. As the worst thing that has happened to the world in our lifetime, the pandemic has squeezed out all the other things that may be worth taking up in the national conversation.

Other news, if there is other news, is drowned out by constant talk of infections, death tolls, vaccines,  economic disaster, social distancing, face masks, re-openings, re-closings, ventilators, first responders, crushing curves, lockdowns and on and on. My one refuge, professional sports, is dead. My teams are not even playing. The best sports on TV right now is a 10-part documentary highlighting the Michael Jordan Bulls-run of championships...way back in the 1990s! And I hated the Bulls!

We are living in a period of suspended animation. Even the various wars that took up space on the front page seem to be on hold, anything happening in the arts is on hold, publishers and film companies are putting new releases on hold, even the November election seems to be on hold, even though it isn't (so far). Covid is taking up all the oxygen and there's precious little else to talk about.

Even this blog, which is about my publishing effort, doesn't have much to report. Seems that I'm in good shape: strong manuscript, good query letter, and a long list of potential agents to approach. This week 10 more submissions go out.

But the gorilla in the room is the August 14-16 Writer's Digest Conference in New York City, where I will be pitching my book to seven or eight agents--if Covid-19 doesn't cancel the event. These in-person encounters make me uncomfortable, but they usually result in a request for manuscript pages, probably because it may be awkward for an agent to turn down a writer in person. It's much easier to do a kiss-off via email.

I'll spend the next couple of weeks perfecting my pitch and the following months practicing my delivery so that it sounds relatively natural by August. Two hundred words of pure torture. Given the static situation in the world, I have plenty of time to terrify myself over the prospect.