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Lately I’ve been keeping these columns short. Buuuut I figured you all might be in the mood to think about something other than death. Human death, anyway. And I figured you might have some time to kill, whether that’s because you’re sitting at home and getting paid or sitting at home because you’re laid off. Let’s think about something else for a bit.

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One may assume that us writers have it the easiest during a nationwide pandemic that calls for social distancing and working from home. To a degree, we are lucky, given that our careers require nothing more that click-clacking away on computers or typewriters all day, and so many of us are introverts anyway, that don't socialize even when there isn't a virulent upper-respiratory infection sweeping across the world.

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As 2019 recedes from our collective memory, it’s easy to forget the trends that defined it, from fashion to film to food. Naturally this applies to literature as well — and it can be especially difficult to pin down cover design trends of a given year, as they tend to evolve gradually and may even re-emerge after long periods of dormancy.

Indeed, any seasoned cover designer will recognize that no cover design is 100% new. However, each year there will be certain colors, shapes, and textual arrangements that “has its day,” so to speak.

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Images via Andrea Piacquadio & Ivan Bertolazzi

According to the University of Pennsylvania’s Positive Psychology Center, positive psychology is the scientific study of the strengths that allow people and their communities to thrive. The field of positive psychology is based on the understanding that we all want to live lives that are meaningful, and that we all want to be able to do what is best for ourselves to enhance and optimize our life experiences. 

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Ah, spring. Nothing like sweating under your coat one day and freezing your junk off the next. Pollen in your nostrils, flu in your eyes. It’s really the perfect preparation for the worst time of year: summer, the suckiest season of all the sucky seasons. Don’t fight me on this.