Writers Who Run: Push Yourself to the Finish Line

Last Saturday, I ran the 4th largest foot race in the U.S., the Cooper River Bridge Run in Charleston, SC. It's a 10k (6.2 miles). Nearly 40,000 runners show up to run the race and "Get Over It." Lots of fun costumes and great music. They even had watermelon cups at the finish line this year. YUM! Yep, I'll be going back next year. Can't wait. Did it in 1:21:19, which is slower than last year's time, but I was recovering from two separate injuries, too!

Anyway, onto the writing lesson and running analogy for the day. Motivation station, here we come! So, what do writing and running have to do with each other? Lots, if you love to do both! Pushing yourself through to the end comes to mind this week.

As writers, we must push ourselves to read more, write more, get the words down, revise, revise, revise. Submit, revise again, submit again. Perseverance is what it's all about, after craft, of course. If we don't push ourselves, no one else will. We must first write the story. Including the ending. Then, we can celebrate, revise, get published, whatever. And we start planning the next book. The characters. The plot. The theme. The format. We must write the next book!

As runners, we must push ourselves to get out and run. To take it easy to get through injuries. To bundle up on those cold days and just get it done. And at races, to make it to the finish line. When we're at the start line, the end is already in sight. It's like writing through the last chapter of your novel. You can hear the crowd cheering for you, and you simply have to finish it. Once we cross the finish line, we celebrate. We plan for the next race. When. Where. What distance. Who will go with us. Who will run with us. What the next training plan looks like. We must run the next race!

To the finish line and beyond!!! Because is there ever really truly a finish line? They just keep coming, and we must continually push ourselves to cross them. Others can't do it for us, they can only cheer us on.

What's YOUR next book about? What's YOUR next race coming up?

Keep on keepin' on...