Monthly Archives: December 2017

Reading Rainbow

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When-you-see-it-Bookcase

I am a very carnivorous reader. Seriously, some might call it an addiction. And when you extend that to my consumption of all forms of content there would be no argument at all. I am also an active user of a website called Goodreads. If you are a reader and are not using it, you should really give it a shot.

One of the things that Goodreads does is allow you to set a reading challenge for yourself for the calendar year. In 2016 I had a goal of 100 books, and ended up reading 103. So I set out in 2017 with a goal of 156 (three books a week). I hit that in August, and decided to reset the goal to 200, which I have hit and will have room to spare by Dec. 31st.

If 200 books seems like a lot it’s because it is. It is an average of just under 4 books a week. No one has time to read that much. Including me. Contrary to what that volume of books suggests, I DO have an active social calendar. I just learned how to fold reading into the everyday business of life.Overdrive

About 40% of my “reading” comes from audiobooks, which I get from an audible.com subscription and , which is an app that delivers audiobooks and ebooks to your phone or tablet. This allows me to fill pockets of time when I am running, cooking, cleaning, driving, showering, etc., with content. Stephen King famously reads for five hours each day. I’m not sure that I hit that high watermark, even with audiobooks, but they provide hours of “reading” that wouldn’t otherwise be there.

I also spent most Sundays, at least in the mornings with coffee, reading. Sundays are my time. I could get lost in a book for a day if I was able. It is one of my most tranquil practices.

As 2017 closes out, I am looking back at my year in reading, and ahead to 2018 and I have some new goals to push myself even further in consuming my first and favorite form of content. I am still debating on the reading goal for the year. But I have decided on a few things I need to do a better job of incorporating into my reading.

I need to get better about non-fiction. My non-fiction shelf of read books for the past several years is anemic. I get so caught up in my love of the unfolding of story that I forget about the great true stories of our past and present, the engaging wealth of knowledge that is out there just waiting to be consumed.

I need to get better about reading any of the several classics that I have missed along the way, which is more than I care to admit as an aspiring author. The greats of the past have influenced the greats of the present that I consume regularly and I want to experience what they have to say.

I also want to read more literary and fiction magazines. Not only because these are publications that I will be submitting to more frequently next year, but because these publications are full of stories by new and emerging authors that I have enjoyed reading in the limited amount I have experienced so far.

I love so many things about reading it is hard to know where to begin. I love exploring the world created by the author and walking with the protagonist on his or her journey. I love what it teaches me about being a writer. But most of all I love what it teaches me about myself as a unique human being.

Blogging Lessons

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I started this blog eight weeks ago with no idea what I was doing or where I was heading. And after nearly two months I still don’t have an answer to either of those questions. But there has been tremendous value in the experience and the lessons I have learned so far.

Stephen King is famously quoted as saying: “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.” This seems simple enough at first glance. And I certainly have the reading thing down. But writing is a whole different thing. Most writers, yours truly included, sometimes have trouble getting out of their own way and just writing. I can’t speak for writers everywhere, but for me one of the key reasons is I want everything to come out of me like Sorkin-esque dialogue on the first try. I want everything to be perfectly phrased and witty with strong imagery and conviction. I want to do it like they do in the movies.

That is never gonna happen with a rough draft, nor is it meant to. And anyone who has been reading this blog knows by now it is far from perfect and a work in progress.

But to me that is part of the beauty of it. Making a point to publish regularly has not only pushed me to write more, but it has forced me to become more comfortable with letting people see my writing, which is a bigger step than I can express. It also keeps me in practice. And practice doesn’t make you perfect, but it does make you better.

Posting frequently also keeps writing at the top of my mind which is pushing me creatively in a number of ways. From outlining a novel and finishing NaNoWriMo, to the list of short story ideas in my notebook, to the scripts I have been developing for a podcast and the ideas I have for creative content for this blog, I have been more productive creatively than ever before in my life. And it feels amazing. I can feel the momentum it is generating pushing me toward my goals.

This blog has also been a journal of sorts as I follow the path of my own creativity. Which has been therapeutic. I have been enjoying the fact that is is about nothing and everything and has had no real direction. It has been helpful in my quest to find mine.

I am also learning more about website development through WordPress, which I knew nothing about before this started. One of the things I have learned is that I am going to have to upgrade the site in order to incorporate some of the ideas I have for 2018. And that will lead to a whole new round of learning.

As we close out 2017 I am thankful for the friends that nudged me into starting this even though I didn’t know the way. And excited about the opportunities that lie ahead.

Training Sprains

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Running Injury

In Chasing Another Ultra I talked about being  on the path to another 50K. Immediately after that post I started off strong. I wasn’t getting great times on my runs, and I didn’t expect to. But I was getting good time on feet, and good consistency, which are far more important. That lasted about two weeks.

Everyone complains about Kansas City roads, but Kansas City sidewalks are just as bad. I was humming along engrossed in an audiobook. I failed to notice that up ahead the sidewalk was not in its natural state of flat, but had become an obstacle course meant to ensnare my unsuspecting toe.

My toe screamed into the sidewalk with great fury and was promptly punished for the indiscretion. I was reminded of the cost of not paying attention as I limped home for the next 2.5 miles. And for 2.5 weeks after that.

I’ve had numerous injuries throughout my life as a result of sports (mainly running) and toe injuries are among the worst. I’ve actually dislocated both of my big toes before, making them susceptible to re-injury. They are painful as fuck, and take forever to heal when it is impossible to completely stay off your feet.

I try to use everything as an opportunity to learn and grow, and injuries are no exception. I am a fairly high energy person, and running is a soothing activity to me. So as I sat with my foot in an ice bath I tried to figure out what the lesson was, other than “pay attention and be less clumsy.” Which anyone that knows me would tell you is not likely to ever be learned.

Then I remembered a passage while reading Way of the Peaceful Warrior by Dan Millman:

“Look, what happens if you have a sore ankle one day?”

“I work some other area.”

“It’s the same with your three centers. If one area isn’t going well, it’s still an opportunity to train the others. On some of your weakest physical days you can learn the most about your mind.”

I’m not going to sit here and tell you that I turned my injury into a transformative experience. But it did give me the opportunity to focus on a few areas of training that I tend to ignore: breathing, stretching and core work. And since I wanted to keep making forward progress, I decided these would be the areas I would focus on.

And the results showed when I finally got back to running. My breathing felt more natural, and my muscles weren’t as sore and stiff when I got back to the actual practice of running. I haven’t gotten faster yet, but I feel more like a whole runner than I had before I got injured.

I am grateful for the lesson about shifting focus when one area is weaker, in an effort to become stronger as a whole and plan on applying it to all areas of my life.

I just hope that next time I need the reminder, it comes more gently than a sprained toe.

A Different 50K Finish Line

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NaNo-2017-Winner-Badge

I did it! I did it! I did it! Okay, I promise I’ll stop screaming like a schoolboy now. But I DID IT!! Okay, now I’m done. We are now in the month of December which means that NaNoWriMo is over (most of you just call it November) and although I had to push at the end I got my 50K words worth of novel done. It’s not the full novel yet, I still have a lot to put my protagonist and antagonist through before I am done. But it is more words of a novel than I have ever put down and is a huge step towards the ultimate goal of being published.

More valuable than the words on the page is what I learned about myself and my writing through the experience. Like many writers, I have trouble getting out of my own way and just writing. With a deadline and a goal I was less worried about the words themselves and more focused on getting words on the page. A rough draft is meant to be precisely that. Rough. The story and the writing will get smoothed out in editing. But only if you get a draft out of your head and onto the page first.

I also discovered a tremendous amount about my story. As I mentioned in the post Ready Set WriMo, I went into this event with an outline. It was a fairly bare bones outline and I found myself adding chapters and expanding as I went, particularly as it came to back story. Getting the words on the page and seeing where the story went has allowed me to find the layering I didn’t even know I was looking for.

I also learned that I can do this. I can take longer stories and start fleshing them out. That I can write the longer concepts. I gained a higher level of confidence in my writing as a result of this event, and had fun doing it.

And for the first time I feel like publishing a novel is not just a dream, but an obtainable goal. That lesson alone was invaluable and makes this experience so rewarding and gratifying.

I am excited to finish the first draft and for all of the steps that come next. And grateful to NaNoWriMo for giving me momentum and more tools for my toolbox. I also learned that writing a book can be just as fun as reading one.