Why I Wrote Viral: Moving On
As I discussed in a previous post, I wrote Viral because I wanted to share some thoughts about the COVID-19 pandemic. It was still very much in full swing when I published Viral, though the worst of it was over. Viral: Moving On looks at the second half of the pandemic, when rules started getting relaxed and normality gradually started to return.
After publishing the first instalment, part of me was tempted to never write about the awful pandemic again. But, there was still a lot going on and there were many things I wanted to write about. I couldn’t help but put finger to keyboard and before I knew it, I had enough writing to publish another Viral instalment.
Viral: Moving On has the same general structure and style as Viral. I’d say it’s a bit more optimistic since it covers a time when the end of the pandemic is in sight and it’s clear that we won’t have to put up with fear-mongering, micromanagement and overly negative rhetoric for much longer.
Viral: Moving On
This second instalment looks at:
‘Post-Lockdown’
‘Lessons’
‘The Future’
Why I Called It Viral: Moving On
Like everyone else, I wanted the pandemic to be over as soon as possible. It was a truly awful period of time. When putting together the pieces of writing in Viral: Moving On, I wasn’t sure what I was going to call the e-book. I settled on Viral: Moving On because the e-book is largely about getting back to normality, putting the pandemic behind us and abandoning the new routines and actions we’d been forced to accept.
How Long Was Viral: Moving On Going to Be?
I didn’t want Viral: Moving On to be any longer than the first instalment. I set myself an upper limit of 20,000 words for Viral and did the same for Viral: Moving On. Even though the second instalment has a more positive tone, the subject matter is still rather unpleasant and I didn’t want to rant and rave about things too much.
The Three Categories
The pieces of writing in Viral: Moving On are arranged into three categories: ‘Post-Lockdown’, ‘Lessons’ and ‘The Future’. They’re all pretty self-explanatory. In ‘Post-Lockdown’, I look at what it was like when we had more freedom but were still bound by rules and restrictions. My favourite category has to be ‘Lessons’ because it’s all about what we can learn from the pandemic - I think our leaders and media outlets in particular have a lot to learn from how they handled it! Finally, there’s ‘The Future’, in which I talk about how we approach the future and whether we let the pandemic affect it.
In the first instalment, the three categories are ‘Lockdown’, ‘The Government’ and ‘The Media’. Together, they look at being locked down and the role our leaders and media organisations played in the pandemic. When it came to writing Viral: Moving On, I didn’t want all of it to be as subjective and based on real life as the first instalment. The first category, ‘Post-Lockdown’, is very subjective of course, but the second and third ones aren’t as such. Instead, they’re more about reflections, thoughts, wishes and hopes.
Will There Be a Third Instalment?
As I said in the post about Viral, there will most certainly not be a third instalment in the series. I’m done with writing about the pandemic. I enjoyed writing the second instalment more than the first because it’s more optimistic and talks about the pandemic ending a lot more. Even so, I didn’t enjoy enough that I was desperate to put together a third instalment. I think with the two e-books, I’ve said just about everything I want to about the pandemic.
Read Viral: Moving On If You Haven’t Already
Download Viral: Moving and see what I have to say about the later stages of the pandemic. Check out the first instalment, Viral, if you haven’t already done so.
Here are the links:
Viral: Moving On - Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Google Play
Viral - Amazon, Apple Books, Barnes and Noble, Google Play
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