Do you feel battered and bruised after a writing session? Does your mind and body ache? That’s because writing is a sport. You must commit to it, train for it, and love it even when you hate it.
All athletes start at the same place. They find a sport they love and work towards improving their ability to perform it.
What kind of sport do you like?
Do you like hockey? Stops and starts, goals, penalties. Always something happening. Some of it good, some of it bad. What about football? Do you like to make a plan and then crash your way through? Do you like baseball? Nothing happens, nothing happens and then—BAM!—the game comes to life with precision and finesse and then back to nothing.
Do you freewrite, letting the words flow or make a plan and then desert it almost immediately? Do you sit at your desk and stare into space, drawing a blank for hours, or days or weeks and then—BAM!—suddenly, the words flow, quick and precise. Then you stare at your work for more days, more weeks, maybe months.
For me, writing is a marathon.
You run a marathon “alone,” even though the race is run with hundreds, sometimes thousands, of other marathoners. A smart racer does not prepare for this arduous, exhilarating race without help. They build a team.
Your coach
Your coach evaluates your strengths and weaknesses. Some athletes are built to run 3,000 meters, some should be in the wrestling ring. A good coach will have a training schedule. As you get stronger, they re-evaluate, tweaking and fine tuning the routine. They create plans to deal with injuries, life’s little problems, they give an extra push making the impossible possible.
A team
You need a running buddy. Someone to train with, improve with and cry with. You work together to pace your runs. Sometimes, you ride the slipstreams and sometimes you get out in front and lead.
You need a teammate who is just that teeny, tiny bit ahead of you. To inspire you when they run a personal best or win a race. After all, you don’t want to be left in the dust.
Fans
Fans are there to celebrate the wins and cry over the losses in any sport. Some are there from the very beginning and never leave your side. These are often parents and childhood friends. They often give well-intentioned advice, that is really not that helpful, so that you don’t get your hopes up “too high.” (Those are the worst, aren’t they?)
Other fans appear during the journey. Training partners, and most certainly your coach, are beside you through thick and thin. They offer constructive advice when you stumble and high-fives when you succeed. They understand and appreciate the hard work you’ve done to get to where you are.
Then there are the spectators that you have picked up along the way. Fans who have watched you race, seen you struggle through the rain, cheered you on as you climb that hill, because they want to see you win.
Determination and tenacity are essential for any sport.
How did Anne Lamott or Eliud Kipchoge (official world record holder for the marathon) get to where they are?
A person doesn’t wake up one day and decide to run 26.2 miles (or for Canadians 42.195 kilometers). They plan. They eat well, get plenty of sleep and, of course, exercise. They do cardio, weights, and run different distances, sometimes alone, often with their teammates. They rest, especially after an extremely strenuous workout or a race. They evaluate their progress, recheck their goals, and iterate, iterate, iterate.
Perhaps they add in a little cross-training. Playing a round of tennis uses muscles in a different way than doing 15 squat-jumps. A little Haiku never hurt a screenplay.
Hitting the wall
Runners hit the wall. A lot. It is imaginary, but very, very real and always in a different place. Sometimes it is at the bottom of that hill or twenty feet from the finish line. An athlete must build up endurance, work on increasing their time and speed.
Today, it is 300 words, tomorrow 350, maybe in a week 3,000. You need to feel the burn as you push through the resistance and fight to get to the other side.
The finish line
You’ve done it. You have submitted your story. You finished the race and broke through the ribbon.
Now what? You celebrate!
I volunteered at the first marathon in Winnipeg on Father’s Day. Three hundred feet from the finish line a runner, overcome with exhaustion, stumbled and fell. You can’t touch a marathoner. It will disqualify them. Many racers ran past while some slowed to mumble words of encouragement and then continued on their way. Two runners stopped and walked beside their fallen comrade as he blindly staggered forward. They talked to him, guiding him to the finish line. The fans pulled him towards his goal with cheers and cowbells. He fell over the finish line directly onto a gurney and was whisked away in an ambulance.
I saw him several hours later, walking about, smiling, and carrying his ribbon. He had trained, he had conquered, and he was going to do it again. He would start training again with new tools, new knowledge, and the experience of finishing.
I had a plan.
I was going to spend thirty minutes a day writing this article until it was done and get it submitted early. The fans in my head told me I couldn’t do it. I was distracted by real life events. I started and stopped several times and fell behind in my goal. To get back on track (pun intended) I read articles by fellow DIYer’s, I forced myself to sit at my desk everyday, even when I didn’t feel like it. (That was probably some of my best and most insightful writing.) I crossed the finish line. I broke through the ribbon on the day it was due.
Now I will take a couple of days, read a book, watch some TV, and then I will regroup, rethink, and start again. I am stronger and fitter and will use the new knowledge to do a better job next time. Improving is part of any sport.
Brenda Rech is happily married with two beautiful daughters, one dog, three cats, and a bird named Amy Farrah Fowler. Her flower gardens are forever at the beginner’s stages as she would rather hike with her husband and dog or explore her writing. Her favorite breakfast is crispy bacon and strawberry jam on white toast. She is currently working on her first novel and has a monthly newsletter. Brenda loves to doodle and is a fan of Rebecca Fish Ewan’s Doodling for Writers, so she drew her own headshot.
