I wrote in my first novel marathon two weeks ago, in support of the Adult Education Centre in Owen Sound. The marathon was organized by the Owen Sound and North Grey Union Library but held at the Ginger Press bookstore. There were five of us in cozy quarters. There’s nothing like writing in a room full of books, whether at a bookstore, or a library. All those volumes goading you on, We did it, surely you can too…
I’m used to writing in short sprints, so the idea of a marathon was a little daunting. And I had other peoples’ expectations on me. Would I write enough to honour their donations? What was expected of me? I’d already stated that I need to sleep, meaning I wouldn’t be pulling an all-nighter.
What I found is that I did have to get up and take a break, go for a walk, stretch my legs. And people came and talked to us. And our fellow writers would also join in conversation. All these breaks made me feel guilty. Was I honouring the intention of the weekend? Or was this just a getaway from my family?
I wrote 11,000 new words that weekend, more than I’d ever written in one shot before. The big difference between writing at home and writing in a marathon? At home when I take a break from my writing, I move on to other tasks around the house. At the marathon, I came back to my work. Sure there were interruptions and breaks, but we kept coming back to our work, the words kept adding up.
I was still tired at the end of it. (Tired is my natural state.) And then I didn’t touch my novel for two weeks. Had I burnt myself out? Was a marathon really worth it? Had I made myself sick of my characters? Not entirely. You see, we did have a busy couple of weeks. My older daughter was in a play and my younger daughter was playing soccer. Both meant lots of running around for us and little time for our own hobbies.
This past weekend was the first weekend I had time to get back to my novel since the marathon. How would it go? Awesome! The first thing I noticed was my lack of resistance. Usually, I hit that blank page with a lot of angst and an attitude of, I can’t do this. That was all gone. I jumped right in. And I wrote for longer. Usually, I stop after a scene, feeling drained. But now that was a walk in the park, I could go on and write another scene! Which I did.
I had built up my writing muscle. Now my morning sprint session was like a walk in the park. Like running to your mailbox after completing the Boston Marathon. You don’t even break a sweat. Saying all that, I like to try and live a balanced life. Physically, I’m not sure all that sitting is best for me. It’s good to get up and be active. But it was good to learn to sit still a bit longer. And learn to come back to it. But the most surprising and best result was the breaking down of resistance, of just getting on with it.
