Napier author and cancer survivor Deborah Burnside on life in her bubble

Deborah Burnside in her bubble.

Deborah Burnside has many feathers to her cap — mother of three adult sons, wife to Robert, hands-on operator of Clean Earth Ltd, facilitator of Debz Sheds, ambassador for HB Cancer, farmer, beekeeper, candidate for New Conservative Napier in the upcoming election, NET lung cancer survivor, chief dog washer and Kiwi author of children's books.

I caught up with Deborah — at a safe distance — and found out what she was up to during lockdown.

How has lockdown affected some of the hats you wear?

Our 29th wedding anniversary was during lockdown, which ended up an intimate dinner for two, but cooked in-house rather than at any of our local favourite spots.

Our waste and recycling was an essential service so that carried on, albeit with a lot of hand sanitiser, detergents and an enormous amount of gratitude to our amazing Napier and Hastings clients.

There was some interesting feedback from drivers who noted the number of families really enjoying being out for walks and dads, particularly, pushing prams and teaching their children how to ride bikes.

If it wasn't for a life-threatening disease it appeared an idyllic time for many families as we drove the streets collecting waste and recycling. The most disappointing things were not being able to support HB Cancer Society's main fundraiser as the guest speaker. I also had facilitated a fundraiser out at the Eskview Rugby Club, although we managed to do it "live on FB" instead.

How many books have you had published?

Not enough, more than initially I'd dreamed, less than I hope to write eventually — a lifetime permitting of course as the ideas themselves never, ever stop.

They circle like planes waiting for air traffic control to call them on in. I'd told myself that if I wasn't published by the time I was 35 I'd give up and move on to something else and On A Good Day was launched in Napier just a few days before my 35th birthday.

Lung cancer survivor Deborah Burnside, pictured here with Drop Shot Cafe owner Karen Kriese-Wise in Taradale, Napier.

Has lockdown inspired you to write another book?

Because of my health (I'm a freshly minted NET Lung Cancer survivor) my whole focus over the last three years or so was on first finding out what was wrong with me, then getting that resolved and writing is really hard, lonely work and it takes, for me, total dedication and focus, which I just haven't had in that time.

I'm so lucky to have had opportunities to sing, dance, act and launch a local community book in the past year, so that makes writing just another one of the things in the myriad of creative things that I do and enjoy.

How do you choose a book?

Definitely the recommendation of others helps. Always, when one of our local authors have just released a new title I make sure to buy it, promote and share it. My latest read was a Beattie and Forbes recommendation after just finishing Charity Norman's The Secrets of Strangers.

What have you been doing during lockdown?

Working full time in the rubbish business — it was a busy time for beekeeping too, so harvesting some honey that had been waiting to be spun, treating hives and cleaning things up ready for the hives natural winter slow down and, with the drought, making sure our stock had enough feed.

Our main front-load truck has been given a complete repaint. I loved seeing everyone's cooking and baking efforts and with feijoa season tried a really tasty baked feijoa chutney.

How has lockdown affected you mentally?

I do wonder if authors have perhaps a head start on mental wellness in a pandemic as we're so often alone with only our own imagination for hours at a time. I do know there was a fleeting thought of really, seriously? I beat lung cancer and then a respiratory disease that kills comes along and I'd be last in line for a respirator. What is that about?

But it was only a fleeting thought. I'm known to be quite a Pollyanna of positivity and have a positive button on my desk at work too.

My biggest concern was for my parents and those in my wider bubble who would be most at risk should they have contracted the disease.

What have some of the main challenges been in lockdown for you?

When you have a roof over your head, food, company, meaningful work, creative hobbies to tinker along with, the garden to tend to, a good dog at your feet then what else do we really need?

Practically though, in our business, there's a worldwide shortage of the gloves that we use so that's going to be a bit of an issue we'll need to sort and additional orders of PPE gear arriving caused some momentary stress — then we were able to help others out when it all arrived at once.

Tell me any highlights or positives for you during and maybe after lockdown?

Just how well everyone in my immediate local community looked out for each other, shared what they had or helped where they could. I spent some time knitting and needed a button and next thing a box of buttons was available to fossick through at my leisure.

Whether it was food, things for babies that arrived too soon, yeast for the home breadmakers — everyone had exactly what someone else needed and sorted it out in a contactless way.

As I worked I loved seeing families through the window out walking and set up a bubble machine so sourcing plenty of detergent for that was probably my most panicky time during level 4.

What have you most looking forward to in level 2 and beyond?

Debz Shed being open again for our underwear drive for women's refuge going ahead and helping HB Cancer with their fundraisers and anything else they need — that's really important to me.

Campaigning for sure, that's my main job for the next few months and I think we'll probably go out for a proper anniversary dinner and enjoy it very much. But as for writing — it will always be there waiting for me and those ideas remain circling.