Florida Author Joseph John shares his lock-down experience.

“Focus on your hobbies, on what you’re passionate about. If you’ve lost touch with them over the years, pick them back up again. Or find a new hobby, something you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time. Because you got the time now!”

Thanks to author Joseph John (from Florida, USA) for sharing how he’s coping with living in lock-down.

I’m currently in lock-down with my wife, our two-year-old daughter, and our four-month-old goldendoodle. We are all safe and healthy. Honestly, I’m really enjoying being on lock-down. I’m able to focus on my family and my writing. I’m luckier than many. I’m in the military, which is probably one of the most secure jobs in the country. No worries about unemployment.

We’ve been directed to telework as much as possible. I’m usually in uniform and at work once a day for three hours at a stretch, mostly to check up on classified correspondence that I can’t access from Fort Household. On the days I work from home, I can usually knock out everything before noon. That leaves the rest of the day to spend with my two favorite people in the world.

We play with Alexis’s Duplo sets, chase the dog around, read, and go for a 30-minute walk after naptime. I’ve also managed write about 100 pages of my latest novel in the last two weeks, which is a massive uptick in productivity for me.

I’ve also been growing a new moustache for a bit of fun…

Florida Author Joseph John shares his lock-down experience. - "Focus on your hobbies, on what you're passionate about. If you've lost touch with them over the years, pick them back up again. Or find a new hobby, something you've always wanted to do but never had the time. Because you got the time now!" — Forgive the ‘stache. It’s ridiculous, I know, but it gets a laugh out of everyone who knows me, so it’s staying put until COVID goes.

In all honesty, the lock-down has been a blessing for me. I have more things I’d like to do than hours in the day, and I finally have the time for them. Most of them, at least.

If this pandemic has left you unemployed, I feel for you. I don’t know what I’d do in that situation. Like I said, I’m in the military, so I’ve never had to fear for lack of work. It’s not the kind of career you get laid-off from.

If you’re still young or you have kids, I’d encourage you to look into it. Not all of the military is about running around with guns, engaging the enemy, and getting shot at. There are plenty of specialties that don’t involve combat if that’s not your bag. And if you go to college and join the military as an officer, you’ll be able to retire with 50% pay at the ripe old age of 42. Today, that’s $57,000 a year. For you or your children, in 20 years, it’ll be over $100,000. Plus, what better way is there to spend your time than as part of a team, in service to your country and your fellow citizens?

If you’re still gainfully employed and working from home, my advice is to make the most of your time. How often will you get to spend so much of it with your family? Enjoy it! And if you don’t enjoy being around your family, I got nothin’ for ya . . .

Whether you’re married or single, focus on your hobbies, on what you’re passionate about. If you’ve lost touch with them over the years, pick them back up again. Or find a new hobby, something you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time. Because you got the time now!

Focus on your hobbies, on what you’re passionate about. If you’ve lot touch with them over the years, pick them back up again. Or find a new hobby, something you’ve always wanted to do but never had the time. Because you got the time now!

I’m currently working on book 2 of my dystopian sci-fi series, Democracy Inc. It’s set in the far future, in the Corporate States of America, where megacorporations rule the country.

Rather than follow the old worn-out trope of a member of the lower class rebeling against the system, my protagonist is the antihero son of one of the eight CEOs that rule the country. His story arc is not so much a rising up as a falling down and picking himself back up. Actually, he does a lot of falling down. Think The Catcher in the Rye meets Hunger Games (if Katniss Everdeen started off with endless fistfuls of cash and power but lost it all).

My first novel, The Eighth Day, has 204 4-star and 5-star reviews on Goodreads. It was a bestselling and award-winning sci-fi novel set in the near future. You can buy it on Amazon (https://www.amazon.com/Eighth-Day-Joseph-John-ebook/dp/B01BCLPTNI) or get it for free by signing up for my mailing list (https://www.josephjohnfiction.com).