CLASSON

From page A4

participants. The “National” is not quite accurate; there are people writing from all over the world. Everyone I met online had a story — how they were working from all over the world.

Everyone I met online had a story — how they were working from home, or their business was closed, or they were going to be doing something else that was canceled. There was a tremendous amount of enthusiasm and encouragement and positive energy.

This year in particular, having this big goal gave a bit of structure to my life that seemed to be lacking. It provided a reason to stretch in a year where just getting by often feels like more than enough. It noted the passing of the days and gave me a badge for showing up and writing — first one week, then another — until I made it to the end.

Most importantly, it connected me to others. And right now, that is what I am missing more than anything. Encouraging a writer in England whose B& B is closed to get her words written, providing sympathy to a writer who is struggling with her novel while caring for her elderly mother, having a writer in Hawaii say he found my writing funny — these were the connections that made this big, ridiculous goal worthwhile. These connections made the goal irrelevant.

Of course, not all the writers finished. Some got called back into work.

Some simply became overwhelmed by day-to-day life. There is no right way to do NaNoWriMo either.

We all had an adventure.

We did something that made a shrinking world feel a little bigger. We might even have written a few good words in there, somewhere.

In the end, I did write 50,000 words. I don't know if I'll ever participate in NaNoWriMo again; I'm writing most of the time anyway. But I'm glad I did it this year. When I hit 50,000 words, I had a reason to celebrate.

Right now, I think we're all looking for reasons to celebrate.

Till next time, Carrie

Carrie Classon is a writer and performer. She is the author of “ I’ve Been Waiting All My Life to be Middle Aged” and a syndicated columnist. Her memoir, “ Blue Yarn,” was released last year. Learn more at carrieclasson. com.