You Are Here

*WARNING* Lots of geeky Lord of the Ringsness coming.

Several years ago I took the Eowyn Challenge and walked the distance from Hobbiton to Rivendell. Then I decided to keep going. I made the long trek south, down through the mines of Moria and into Lothlorien. In the breaking of the Fellowship, I followed Frodo and Sam through the Dead Marshes and Shelob's lair. We came into Mordor and I made it with them all the way to Mt. Doom(!) (I even did the bonus miles of the flight back to the Morannon. Frodo and Sam were lazy and slept through it, but I walked the whole way).

Yesterday I added up all my miles and realized that it was done. The quest is over, the Ring is destroyed! Yay! It only took 1980 miles of walking, sweating and grumbling.

(This is the map I've been keeping track of my progress on)

But just because the quest is done doesn't mean I'm done ^_^

My plan: follow Frodo and Sam all the way back to the Shire, then to the Grey Havens. Then maybe I can hitch a ride on one of those cool elven ships 8-)

I'll update you on my progress as I go. Right now though I better get moving if I'm going to get to Aragorn's crowning in Minas Tirith on time...

The good kind of tired and the power of boredom

Yes, there is such a thing as a "good" kind of tired. There's something about being tired after a good workout, or after scrubbing the bathtub or weeding the garden (I'll have to wait for spring for that one, sadly). You get to the end of your work and you've accomplished something. This is the time that I love to work on my writing.

I've recently started revving up to write another story. Yes, another *rolls eyes*. I'm plotting this one out like I did the last and it seems to be going well, but I find that my best writing comes right after a good workout (now a days that means yoga or a nice long treadmill walk). I finish and have that "ah, I'm done I can sit down now" moment.

As soon as I do sit, all those thoughts that had been churning around in my head start to spill out. This is especially true after a couple miles of walking on the treadmill. Seriously, there nothing to do when you're walking on a treadmill but stare at the wall in front of you. I love walking outside (when it isn't 10 °F) and I find it relaxing and generally inspiring. It's also too interesting and distracting to work on a specific idea. Normally my thoughts follow this kind of pattern:

"Hmm, should I make the heroine stronger in the second act or- Ooo! Look! Was that a bird? Wait. What was I thinking about?"

But inside, that's a different story. Even if I don't feel like working on that particular story, I will, sooner or later, just to relieve the boredom. I do keep a note book next to the treadmill, but I find it's better to hold in the ideas. Then when I'm done walking I'm almost ready to burst.

Then in that wonderful state when your body is tired and your mind is itching to go, I can settle down with my note book and scribble everything I thought of while I was walking. Once you get the flow going, everything else will fall into place.

There is no easy way

I haven't blogged much about this, but over the past 7 or 8 months I've been working at losing weight. So far I've lost about 40 lbs. I keep running into old friends who are impressed with the changes I've made and all of them, without fail, ask me one question:

"How did you do it?"

Two things. The first is called a treadmill. Second, I learned to like salads. Yep, that's right. I'm exercising and learning to eat right.

"Oh." They reply with a disappointed sigh.

The turning point for me, when I first started trying to lose weight, was realizing that there is no "easy" way. I know people want me to tell them that I just took magic pill #53, then sat back and ate potato chips as I lost weight. That doesn't work (and for the record, I have not even tasted a potato chip in over four months now. Hopefully the twitching will go away in time ;-) ).

The same thing happens with writers. I finish a novel or complete X number of words in a day/week/month and they all ask me:

"How did you do it?"

I sat my butt in the chair and pounded on the keyboard for three or four hours every day, that's how. Just like when I'd get home from work then turn around and walk three miles on the treadmill, I made myself do it. I didn't let myself make the excuse of saying "well I just don't feel like it." Seriously, who actually LIKES getting all sweaty and nasty and out of breath? Not me. Who LIKES sitting in front of a computer for hours trying to mend a plot hole without ripping three new ones open? Not me. I would much rather have the story magically come to me and write it perfectly the first time. I'd also like to eat a whole bag of potato chips in one sitting. None of theses are realistic or healthy.

Writers are good at trying to make everything "just right". They have rituals and lucky items and special paper. I've seem people pay enormous amounts of money on computer programs that say they if you buy them then you can finally get that novel written. Like it will somehow magically do the hard stuff for you. Theses programs my help some people, but you still have to put in the work. And believe me, writing a novel is a lot of work. If anyone tells you otherwise they're a) More delusional then is healthy (even for a writer) or b) Lying through their teeth. But if you accept the fact that, at times, writing isn't going to be bliss and sunshine, that you're actually going to sweat a little, then it makes things a lot easier. You will know that when you come to a hard part and have to push through it that it's OK. That's just a natural part of writing. There's nothing wrong with you. You're not doing something wrong. You don't need that fancy new program or shiny new pill to make it all better.

Pain and struggle are just part of the proses. Push through it and keep going. Never give up. Then one day you'll go to the store and realize that you can ware pants that are three sizes smaller then the ones you wore last year or you'll look down and see the completed manuscript on your desk.

It's not magical. It's sweat and tears and some paper cuts and more then a few blisters.

Like they say: No pain no gain.