When It Was Fun

Last week my writing and running started to crumble.  Two of the things I enjoy most require so much discipline and consistency that they become work (and in one case, is).  Where did the fun go?

Early this week I started to transfer the running log I used from 2002-2007 to my own file.  As I looked through the early entries, I could see almost every run as if I were living it again.  Running used to be fun.  I ran because I enjoyed it.  Sure I was just as competitive then as I am now (probably more so then), but most days I enjoyed the time I was outside.  Now I go into a run wishing it were already finished.

The same started to happen with writing.  It could be I prefer fiction over freelance writing, but I started to doubt that I even liked writing fiction anymore.

This week I’ve tried to lower my standards (and thus the pressure) and just have fun.  Yesterday I ran at Deer Creek Canyon (one of my favorites) for the first time in what seems like a year or two.  It was so much fun.  Trails capture what I love about running.

So here’s to having fun, even with work.

Ben Fountain and Late Blooming

Check out Malcolm Gladwell’s essay in The New Yorker. (And here’s an interview with Ben Fountain and another article if you’re interested.)  He writes about Ben Fountain, whose success in this century reflects two decades of hard work. Fountain quit his job as a lawyer in 1988 to write fiction. His wife is also a lawyer, and she continued to work. They had two small children in the late 1980s, which only added to the frenzy. It’s interesting to see not only how Ben and Sharon Fountain decided to flip-flop what used to be common gender roles within marriage (man=breadwinner, woman=caretaker), but also how Ben Fountain persevered through two decades of writing without seeing the kind of success one might hope to see considering his effort. He would write from 7:30 to lunchtime, take a break, then write until the kids got home.

Gladwell weaves in the stories of Picasso and Cezanne, fleshing out the question of age and artistry. He cites studies and ages of successful poets among other things. He even contrasts Fountain with Jonathan Safran Foer, who wrote Everything is Illuminated in ten weeks at the age of 19. I haven’t read any of Fountain’s work yet, but his story provides hope to most of us.

I’m only a few months in with the freelance business, and already I’m wondering how much work/success I should see for the amount of time I’ve devoted to this. It’s a hard transition from a day job with a regular paycheck and benefits to self-employment and a dwindling savings account. Lately I wonder how much I actually care to write the kind of articles that make money and how much I really just want to write fiction and the occasional essay. I think a good six months, maybe 18 months might be telling for freelance. As far as fiction, though, it’s nice to know that a decade or so might be necessary before coming into any kind of success.

The endurance of writing is not unlike the endurance of running. I won’t drag up another running metaphor, but it is interesting to me to examine my interests and goals in light of my ability to keep going. On Sunday I was wishing I had just run the Denver Marathon instead of merely spectating. I’ve got a whole year to go before I can take a shot at either the Boulder or Denver Marathons. Likewise, I’ve got a lot of time before I like any of the stories I write or before I start getting regular freelance work. But in both instances, the discipline is the same: you can’t put in 1000 miles of running in the beginning of the week and run a marathon on Saturday, and you can’t put in 1000 pages of writing in a few good days and expect to have two or three great novels; it’s the everyday discipline of writing and running in appropriate increments that leads to improvement and success (hopefully). It’s having the faith to put in the work each day without seeing immediate results that leads to accomplishment. It’s the delayed gratification that runs counter to our cultural demands and ingrained expectations that we must endure. So take heart if you’re not where you want to be yet.

Denver Marathon

Yesterday we caught part of the Denver Marathon on our way in to church, and afterwards, we were able to make it to the finish in time to see the 4-hour range runners.  Such excitement!

I love the atmosphere at races.  There is a sense of camaraderie and accomplishment that are hard to find elsewhere.  It was fun to watch even if we couldn’t race this time around.

Check out the website for information and results, as well as this article for a quick overview.  Add this to my list of reasons why I love Denver.

Zen Habits

Last night I decided to opt for a membership at mediabistro.com (or AvantGuild), my enthusiasm for which I could spout for hours (you must join if you’re a freelancer, for the “how to pitch” articles alone).

But this is not about that. I read an interview over there with the creator of a highly popular blog called Zen Habits. Leo Babauta has a wealth of information over there. Anything from simplifying your life to getting out of debt to taking up running to building good habits. I cannot recommend it enough.

Here is a sampling of the guided tour page (under About):

1. 10 Benefits of Rising Early, and How to Do It
2. 20 Things I Wish I Had Known When Starting Out in Life
3. Simple Living Manifesto: 72 Ideas to Simplify Your Life
4. The Cheapskate Guide: 50 Tips for Frugal Living
5. A Guide to Creating a Minimalist Home
6. 10 Tasty, Easy and Healthy Breakfast Ideas
7. 50 Ways to Be Romantic on the Cheap
8. 30 Things to Do to Keep From Getting Bored Out of Your Skull at Work
9. Get Off Your Butt: 16 Ways to Get Motivated When You’re in a Slump
10. Top 42 Exercise Hacks
11. Handbook for Life: 52 Tips for Happiness and Productivity
12. Simple Living Simplified: 10 Things You Can Do Today to Simplify Your Life
13. Top 20 Motivation Hacks – An Overview

That’s my recommendation for the day.

NaNoWriMo 2008

If you’re not familiar with NaNoWriMo, it stands for National Novel Writing Month. The idea is to write 50,000 (a short novel, roughly the length of The Great Gatsby, although some would say this length is a novella) during the month of November. There is no cost to join and no cash prize for winners. The incentive for participants is to actually get writing instead of avoiding it or talking about the novel they’ll write “some day.” It doesn’t have to be good; in fact, it’s normal for the writing to be bad. Later on, participants can edit as much as needed, but November is the time to get the words on paper.

I participated last year, and finished, but the result was not spectacular by any means, and only loosely would I ever call it a novel. It was a good experience, but I lost interest in the story in the beginning and had to keep inventing new facets of the plot and characters in order to get my word count up. My goal was to lose my perfectionism.

This year I hadn’t given NaNoWriMo much thought. I was working on two novels (or the germs of them) this summer, but put them aside to focus on freelance. In the last few months I’ve worked slowly on a some short stories, so I thought novel writing would have to wait. Until last week. I have an idea that I might like enough to spend a month with, and 50, 000 doesn’t take up as much time as one would think. If I put in an hour or two a day of fiction writing, then I should come out with a novel, albeit a rough draft. So I’m going to take another shot at it this year, in hopes of producing something I care enough about to edit and revise after the hype is over.

If you’re interested, check out the website. For what it’s worth, it’s fun to have a community of people who care about writing and to share in the collective panic and pressure to produce. It’s also a nice place for any type of writer.

A Few Quick Links

Runnersworld.com hosts several blogs that are usually good for motivation or procrastination, depending on how you look at it.  Amby Burfoot tracks new studies relating to running and exercise.  There are a few  recent studies of interest, including one on exercise and pregnancy from this blog post.  I find the developments interesting.  A week or so ago, some friends were talking about swaddling, which I had never heard of, and it made me think about each generation’s approach to pregnancy and children.  It seems like every year there’s a new study and a new right way of doing things.  I can’t imagine how overwhelming that must be for parents.

I read about a new magazine called Bible Study Magazine, and there are previews on the website.  Looks promising, perhaps.

Books of the Week

For several weeks I’ve taken in a heavy dose of nonfiction.  In the past when I was reading less often than I am now, I used to love nonfiction and have a hard time finishing anything else.  But now I need fiction.  If I go too long with one type of writing, my reading slows and I lose interest.

So I picked up a book called The Book of Joe.  I read an article in The New York Times about the author, Jonathan Tropper, and his ordinary (paraphrase of his own words) suburban life that contrasts with the excitement in his novels.  A lot of times I’m drawn to writers who don’t live in cities because there seems to be so much snobbery surrounding city writers even if it’s merely my own perception.

At any rate, the library had three of his four novels, and they looked simple enough.  He’s had some commercial success and I think there are film version of his books in the works.

My interest in novels vacillates at times, and I’ll swing from enjoying literary fiction to wanting only a popular or mainstream novel.  I don’t like categories, but they cause me to wonder constantly about the value of one type of fiction over another.  Sometimes I think about types in terms of music:  certain songs are better depending on my mood, circumstances, the time of day, life stage, etc.  Likewise, there are books for a multitude of occasions.  I’m sure I’ve contradicted myself a few times on this blog when I’ve written about this subject.  I change my mind a lot.

So far, the story and the characters in The Book of Joe compel me more than any technical facet of the writing.  The writing is good enough that it doesn’t distract but it’s nothing particularly spectacular.  And that’s fine with me today.

Time and Structure

October is nearly half over, and it was just September.  I’m a broken record when it comes to saying or writing sentiments like that about time.  Never will I get used to how quickly it passes.

Lately I’ve had a hard time working most efficiently due to a lack of structure.  I have such a huge need for structure (and probably control) that I don’t do too well without a lot of boundaries and limits, even if they’re self-imposed.

This morning I’ve been thinking about ways to shape my time without the confines of a 7/8 to 5 job elsewhere than home.  Since Ryan’s schedule is irregular, I try to loosely base mine of off his so that we can spend time together.  So I’ve been toying with the idea of setting up a schedule for chores (for lack of a better word).  For instance, I might clean the bathroom on Mondays and vacuum on Wednesdays.  Or I might take a mid-afternoon break to stretch and do some strengthening exercises.

Running provides another way to add structure.  Usually I like the flexibility of a loose plan because I fear forgoing a run when my plan is too rigid.  But now I think it might help to have specific days for certain types of running.

After thinking about the Sabbath lately (actually it’s been a long-time concern/curiosity), I find myself thinking of ways to order my time.  For some people, these thoughts may seem insane or unbearable, but for me, if I don’t give myself some kind of order, I have an enormous capacity to get sucked into time-wasting activities.  In order to build discipline, I think I need to give myself familiar routines.

The Sabbath, Practical Matters, and What It All Means

Toward the end of Lynne Baab’s book Sabbath Keeping, she hits on a point that is all too relevant for me right now:

In the twentieth century many Christians adopted a form of spirituality that began with knowledge. Study the Bible; learn the major precepts of the Christian faith; say the accurate and true things about God, Jesus, the Holy Spirit and the Christian life. This kind of spirituality asserts that after we have the basic truths straight, then we can begin living a life that honors God.

The sabbath works the other way around. It invites us to participate in something without totally understanding it. In fact, many faithful sabbath keepers say that only after years of observance did they begin to understand the profound lessons God was teaching them through it. Receive the gift of the sabbath over time. Embrace the sabbath without knowing everything you will learn from it.

As much as I learn or investigate my doubts, there must come a time when I get on with life, when I practice what I believe or claim to believe. I get caught up wanting to know “what it means” and the history and pros and cons of basically everything. That’s not living.

It’s like my childhood when I read and obsessed about running but never actually ran. I spent years wanting to, reading about how, dreaming about it. Who knows what held me back. It’s the same with faith matters. There comes a time to get back (or continue) to practicing Christianity instead of theorizing.

I think for this reason, I’m drawn to the spiritual disciplines and sectors of Christianity that involve tradition and ritual. If I don’t have structure, I tend to delay the doing until I’ve decided what it means (which hardly comes).

This excerpt made reading the book worthwhile if only for pointing out the following: Experience teaches us in ways that no book could.

A Food Rut

After so much excitement about food, saving money, and creating recipes, I find myself in a food rut.  I can’t remember what we used to cook or what even sounds appetizing.  So I looked up a few menu plans.  Maybe if a piece of paper dictates each meal it’ll be easier to shop and cook.  I think I need to get in the habit of planning a week’s worth of meals in advance.

I found a seven day plan at The Nest, of all places.

And there’s a two-day sample heart-healthy meal plan at The Mayo Clinic’s website.

To top it off, here’s a great Vegetarian Starter Kit from Vegetarian Times.  Even if you’re not planning on actually going vegetarian (I’m not), I’ve found vegan and vegetarian recipes a nice alternative at times.