I have heard it said (more than a few times) we’re going to have a baby boom when this is all over.

With stay-at-home orders spreading from one coast to the other, I don’t doubt it. And what a wonderful thing. Love in the present and hope in the future!

This pandemic is awful. Though I don’t know anyone who has been affected, there were two photos in today’s Washington Post of men who died from the virus. One was my age, a handsome man with an adorable grandchild, both of them smiling for the camera in happier days. I teared up for both him and the subject of a second story, about a man who worked at a local theatre and was beloved. Such losses are hard to take.

There is a silver lining to this mess. And it comes from all the creative people in the world. Facebook has become a worldwide stage, filled with choruses, instrumentalists, and all kinds of artists sharing their work. Among my favorites is Yo-Yo Ma playing cello to the world. Make sure you see the video Sandra Boynton and he produced. Adorable. But I loved seeing the students in a South African school singing Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Brilliant.

I’m writing this in the moments before I head to an online workshop learning to play the hammered dulcimer. I’ve been playing for six years and this was supposed to be an in person intensive week of lessons and playing. At the beach! Oh well. It’s been great anyway.

So. How are you spending this strange and stressful time? Are you cleaning your house? Teaching your children the multiplication tables or how a bill goes through Congress? Planting seeds for this summer’s flowers and vegetables? Or, attending yet another Zoom meeting to keep tabs on what’s happening at work?

I’m wondering—since this is Camp Nanowrimo month—if there will be a Book Boom in a few months. Here’s an opportunity to take an hour a day, or a couple of hours if you don’t have to feed children or walk the dog (oh those lucky dogs).

I always hear people say, I would like to write a novel. Here’s an opportunity to pick up a pen, open a new doc in Word or Pages, and begin.

It was a dark and stormy night….

Once upon a time….

Call me Ishmael…

Are you game? If you are, look for me at Camp Nanowrimo—I’m MK Tilghman there—and let’s write together. This is a terrible time for the world and one bright spot is the creativity blossoming everywhere. We all have a story inside us. Let’s share it.