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Photo Credit: darkmatter via Compfight cc
I suppose I’m too old to become a professional runner. Never mind too slow. But today was a day when my running went so much better than my writing. It makes me want to run more and write less.
The words just were not flowing this morning. I had about three hours to write, and I felt like I wasted that precious time. I wasn’t focused, and everything I wrote and re-read seemed dull and boring. Who will ever want to read this? I wondered.
My friend Ben is a genius:
@rachael18 then don’t do it. go for a run. play with your puppy. listen to music. if it doesn’t come, it won’t come. same as translation
— Ben Erickson (@bendksu) December 12, 2014
I came home and set out for a run, a 10K I had been planning to do all week. The run went so well. I felt strong and ran a decent pace — about the same pace as late October when I did my two half-marathons. Here we are, six weeks later. I had taken almost all of November off and ate like there was no tomorrow. I think I had more alcohol in the month of November than in the previous six months combined. So to come back after all of that and not lose any fitness — I was happy.
I set a goal today — run a 10K at a good pace — and met it. I feel accomplished. My writing goal? Not met, and I feel discouraged.
As tempting as it is to focus on what’s easy, where’s the challenge in that? Running gives me short-term, day-to-day satisfaction. Writing satisfaction is more long-term. Even a bad day like today probably won’t be all bad. Sometimes my best revelations and inspirations have come out of a bad writing session. We shall see!
Is there something you turn to for a sense of immediate accomplishment? Something to balance more long-term accomplishments?
If You Have Five Seconds to Spare 
Cooking! I get an immediate sense of accomplishment whipping up something tasty in the kitchen. It balances the long, long work of putting together a writing project. Even a short project, an essay or a poem, takes weeks, sometimes months. And my novel–I’ve been working on that for 5 years (off and on), and while I see steady progress, I think it will take another year, which is discouraging.
I need the short bursts of immediate accomplishment.
Cleaning the bathroom sometimes does the trick, too, as does making the bed. I take what I can… 🙂
Yes to immediate accomplishments! I do like to bake on occasion, so I see what you mean. In fact, I probably will do a little Christmas baking today AFTER my writing session!
Great post, and I know how you feel when hitting that blank wall of words. I bake as a way of clearing out the cobwebs and get a upper body workout, while kneading the dough. 🙂 Take care and happy blogging to ya…
I like to bake, too! I probably will do a little bit of that today. Write, and then bake–I think that’s a good formula!