Comments on: Writing is an Endurance Sport

By: Pamela

Pamela — Mon, 17 Mar 2014 02:39:23 +0000

Very insightful Suz, as I’m coming to know is part of who you are! I gotta tell you, that was one of the proudest moments Dad had, wearing the medal you achieved for him!
I’m running my first 10 k soon. It will be my longest to date. I’m hoping to simply finish. I don’t really ever like to give up, so I’m pretty sure how it will end! Wish me luck and God speed!

By: Patricia

Patricia — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 23:20:03 +0000

I’d have to agree with you that writing is rather like running a marathon. There’s so many times when I ask yourself “why am I doing this,” there’s so many times when I say, “I suck,” there’s so many times when I wonder if I’m ever going to see the end. But, I persevere because I know that once I leap the final hurdle, I’ll be able to push on to even bigger and better things. I just have to get beyond that first hurdle.

Great post, Suzanne.

Patricia Rickrode
w/a Jansen Schmidt

By: Suzanne Vince

Suzanne Vince — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 17:23:26 +0000

In reply to Melissa Lewicki. It's a lot easier to get ready to write than it is to actually write. You're so right! :)

By: Suzanne Vince

Suzanne Vince — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 17:22:37 +0000

In reply to Yvonne Kohano. I love the analogy of hitting the "writers" wall. It's so true!

By: Suzanne Vince

Suzanne Vince — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 17:21:58 +0000

In reply to Marianna Heusler. Great advice, Marianna!

By: Melissa Lewicki

Melissa Lewicki — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 16:35:12 +0000

I really enjoyed this post. As a writer, I sometimes spend too much time getting ready for the “race/writing session,” rather than actually writing. I’m working on it.

By: Yvonne Kohano

Yvonne Kohano — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 14:55:40 +0000

Loved this post, Suzanne. I was a distance runner for a decade and a half until I blew out both knees. The ortho’s advice: try walking instead. But it never gave me the same high. I tried swimming and biking and being a gym rat. They only worked up to a point. But then I found writing too.

Your story is so reminiscent of the many times I was doing something I felt was very hard, only to find that it built me into someone even stronger by the end. What doesn’t kill us and all that, right? In the marathon of words, we hit the wall too – that dreaded midpoint in a work where your characters suddenly run out of things to say and you ask yourself if you had the story in you in the first place. But you run to the writing corner and back – in my case, writing crap if that’s all that there is – and suddenly you find yourself on the other side of that wall, with words flowing once more.

Hugs – Yvonne

By: Marianna Heusler

Marianna Heusler — Tue, 11 Mar 2014 12:59:49 +0000

Loved the post. I am a runner also. Actually worked for NY Road Runners club as the librarian.

I started running one block at a time, and actually ran in a marathon. Took me forever, but I finished.

I always tell people, baby steps. If you want to write a novel, write one page a day, just one page. Takes five minutes and anyone can do it. At the end of the year, you’ll have your book!