WINTER RESET

First things first: Picture me in London on a wet Sunday afternoon, wrapped in a wooly shawl, hot cocoa mug in hand, staring at the autumn rain and another six months of seasonal home confinement.

Or is the forced time at home actually a gift?

This year, I decided to look at the long winter as a treat to myself and my creative life. After all, since the lockdown was imposed in the U.K. last March, I have had to develop ways to make the most of the time that opened up, once I came to accept that I would be home for the long haul.

For us writers, being alone for extended periods of time is nothing new; we need the solitude in order to create, right? Sure, but pre-pandemic we could choose when to interrupt our solitude. Now, in the new normal that seems here to stay, the recommended and rarely interrupted solitude can at times feel oppressive and confusing, like a painter staring at a huge, blank canvas without guidelines.

Paradoxically, the home confinement proved liberating to some of us, such as writers with chronic conditions or mobility problems. Claire Wade, author of , who lives with Myalgic Encephalomyelitis, says: “Staying in has meant that I have energy for things I wouldn’t have