I am not a runner. Nor am I a morning person. I prefer to sleep in until noon and stay up until 3am. I prefer to work out with my martial arts, rather than loping around the block to end up right where I started.
Yet for the past couple of weeks, and especially the last few mornings, I’ve gotten up with my wife before 6am and gone running. Why? Well, partly to encourage her own drive to stay healthy, but also because I know it’s better for me as well. Get’s the metabolism churning bright and early (or gray and early, since it rained this morning). Gives me a better start to the day with energy levels high.
I still grumble when I wake up. My body protests as we head out the door, and my legs are usually shrieking, “What the crap are you doing to us?” But what I’ve noticed, and what I try to remember each time we get up, is that after a few minutes, it doesn’t feel so bad anymore. I’m awake, I’m alert, and I’m running without feeling like I’m going to blow a lung out a nostril. When I’m done, sure I’m a little tired and my legs burn a bit, but it feels worth it. Like I’m actually running a little faster and with less effort each time I do it. If only I could remember the end feeling before I begin.
The same with writing. It many times feels like the mental equivalent of running (or at least jogging) along through the story. But often those first few steps, or few minutes, or few pages, are the hardest of all. You aren’t stretched out. The inspiration isn’t flowing. Everything feels gangly or clunky.
Yet the longer you keep at it, the easier it becomes, at least in my experience. You find your stride. Your pacing gets better. Transitions are smoother. And the end result is totally worth the effort, no matter how sweaty your keyboard gets.
If only we could start out knowing how we’re going to feel by the end. The sense of accomplishment. The enjoyment of the story. The fun of revision (I realize I don’t speak for everyone on that). It would make starting out all the easier.
I see that smile.
Wait until you run a marathon! Or do a triathalon! Then you’ll really feel the burn. 🙂
But seriously. Once you become a regular runner, you’ll feel fantastic because of it.
You might consider running late in the day or early evening. I’m a morning person (that’s when I write) but I don’t like to run in the a.m. I do my daily six miles right before dinner or right before bed. I run much faster and better.
We have run a few times later in the day, after work and all. Sometimes the schedule just doesn’t allow for it.
Marathon and triathalon? It’d be a good thing for them to keep those ambulances on standby. Right now we do 3 miles pretty well, but much more than that and I start counting heartbeats to make sure they aren’t faltering.
Another point: running with someone else. You probably wouldn’t get up and out the door if the wife wasn’t getting up and out the door.
The same is true with writing. It helps to have a critique group–face-to-face or online–to get you going and keep you going when the writing is more work than fun. More craft than inspiration.
I know I wouldn’t be running if it was just me, myself and I.
And I wouldn’t be writing as much or as well without my writers group.
Very true. I wouldn’t be doing it without my wife being involved, and I know it helps her do it more often as well.
The writing groups I’ve taken part in the past, and things like the OWW forum I’m taking part in now are great sources of inspiration to either keep writing or delve further into revisions.
While writing is a solitary exercise, one should never go it alone.