Summer is on the Horizon.

Well the holiday has come and gone and I am finally sat down last night to write.  The rust needed to be shook off the keys and the words were hard to come by to start, but the story is coming together and I am starting to plug away at it.  I am thinking about it a lot outside of my time spent writing and that is a good thing. Word count last night was just over 400 words.  Not good, but an ok start after the holiday festivities, plus I am working on a rather difficult scene.   I hope to really dig in this week and pump out a couple chapters.

It was a busy weekend for me with four different parties to go to plus a parade and a game of paintball.  It was nice to relax, catch up with friends, and recharge for the final last two weeks of teaching.  The end of the year is always bittersweet.  I look forward to a summer with my family and catching up on all of the things I put off during the year.  As always I will miss the seniors who are graduating and moving on, yet in the fall there will be a brand new set of students to meet and I get to see how the returning students changed and grew over the summer break.

Over the course of the paintball outing two things happened.  One: I found out that I am not as young as I once was and that bruises do in fact hurt.  Two: Even with the bruising I had a great time acting like a kid running through the woods firing balls of paint at my friends.   Sometimes we all need to act like a kid again and remember to have a little fun.

To all the Dad’s out there: enjoy the time you get with your kids.   They are only young once and it goes quicker then we think.  My oldest is leaving 1^st grade and the years have just flown by.  I plan on taking some time this summer to enjoy seeing life though all three of my kid’s eyes.  From the excitement of superhero movies to learning to walk this summer will have a little of everything.  As a teacher I have the wonderful opportunity to spend 3 months with them and I do not intend to waste a day of it.  Between the 7 year old, the 4 year old, the 9 month old, and the family dog I should be pretty busy don't you think?

Now on to the writing!!!  The story is waiting.

“Either write something worth reading or do something worth writing.”

-Benjamin Franklin

Finding the Time to Procrastinate

How do we make sure that when we find the time to sit down and write we are motivated and ready to write?  Do you ever sit down at the computer only to find yourself surfing the internet instead of writing?  I can find a million things to do to put off writing.  My favorite is playing on my I-Phone, what’s yours?

As a hard core procrastinator I will put things off to the last minute knowing that I will get it done on time.  In college I liked to say that there was no better form of creativity then the last minute.  That has been the problem with my first draft: there is no last minute, it has been too easy to put off, and a week or two of putting it off it is easy to say that you don’t have the time to get back to it.  Then when you do get back it is almost like starting over.  In one sense you have fresh eyes to look at what you had written, but on the other side is the fact that you need to shake the rust off and reconnect with the story.

Having decided to take my writing career seriously I must now confront the task of making my time at the keyboard a priority.  More to the point the struggle becomes making sure it is quality writing time.   Not an hour here or there but large blocks of writing where real progress takes place.  Writing needs to become a part of your life day in and day out.  A daily event that is thought about, looked forward to, and anticipated.  Then when we sit down we do not have to wait for the words to come to us but can instead let the words flow out of us. 

Many of you are probably like me.  By the time I sit down to write it is usually ten at night or later.  Fitting in time at the keyboard between my jobs, raising the kids, helping out with their activities, helping take care of the house, and all the little things that come up in life can be a challenge.   For me I plan on making sure that I write every day even if it is only a little.  Part of being an aspiring author is to aspire to make writing your profession.  This means goals, deadlines.

My goal is 3 to 4 hours a day writing.   My deadline:  a finished first draft by the 4^th of July

So far bursts of writing over the past few years have gotten my first novel past concept and outlining and to a total of just over 25,000 words.  Now it’s time to finish what I have started. 

Ready, set, write.

Why Meandering Marathons?

Growing up I was never a runner.  I didn’t try out for the track or the cross country team and though I thought I was fast I didn’t think about what it would take to run long distances let along 26.2 miles.  Later in life I became a runner.  I started out running on the treadmill at the gym to lose weight. Then when Spring arrived I decided to leave the gym and hit the roads.  I remember the first time I ran a really long distance, which at the time was 8.5 miles.  After 1 mile I was doing ok, at the 2 mile mark I was feeling it, and at 3 miles I wondered what I was thinking and if I should just quit.  Then something happened at about 3 miles, I started to tell myself to just push through and keep running.  I knew deep down that I could do it and that the pain would be worth the feeling I would have completingthe run.  The next mile was tough but with each step I grew stronger in my resolve and more comfortable with my stride.  The beauty of running out there on my own with the trail drew me in and made me a runner. The solace I had with my own thoughts and feelings helped the miles drift by.  That solitude and the fact that I was running around a lake and once you made it out 4 miles the only way back was to continue around the other 4 helped keep me moving.  Looking back now after having run two marathons and running around that same lake many times I value what it has taught me about life and about writing.

Anything you do is hard the first time and it takes practice to get good at it.  You can’t give up just because the hill is steep.  When you are running its all you, there isn’t anyone that can do it for you, and in the end you need to do it for yourself not for anybody else.  Writing shares many of the same traits.  Sometimes it can be hard, but you need to sit down and do it every day to get better.  I decided to call this blog “Meandering Marathons” because writing a novel is like a very long run and though I might make some mistakes and lose my way on the path I know where I am going and what the end goal is.

 I think that if more people took a long view of things instead of looking at the short term we would be better off.  How does what we do today affect where we want to be tomorrow?  Here on this blog I am planting the seeds of my tomorrow.  I hope that I can inspire others to do the same thing; to start something new that helps them grow as a person.  Running helped me change who I was and not in just a physical way.  Yes I lost weight and was healthier for it, but in the end it was the lessons I learned about finishing what you start and standing on your own.  The fact is that you don’t start out great at anything and that it takes training, determination, and willpower to get to where you want to be.  As for my marathons I didn’t get the time I wanted on either of them but the important thing is that I finished them.   That is the main lesson I hope to bring to my writing: Finish what you set out to do.   I just need to keep writing.  

Later this week I will let you all in on where I am in my first book.  Have a great week leading up to Memorial Day.   It’s a wonderful time to get in a long run.

The Road Less Traveled

Sitting down to write has always been a love/hate relationship with me.  I want to do it but I avoid it at all costs.  There is a fear that I will not be able to write and at the same time a fear that I will be able to do it.  I get so much out of the writing yet the process can be painful and enjoyable at the same time.  It all boils down to the unknown.  This is what writing is: the unknown.  Where will the words take me and where will the story in the end up in the end. 

 Take this blog.  Today I set out on a journey of discovery.  Where the journey will take me and where it will end is a mystery.  However the first step is always the scariest and the most difficult; in the case of this blog that step is the writing.  The second and third step that is to keep writing is for me the more difficult.  Finding time to write, getting past the excuses, and putting pen to paper with consistency is the challenge I fight.  On top of that I am letting in the outside world to critique my writing and share in my triumphs and failures. 

 So then what is this blog about?  It’s about writing and how to keep writing.  It’s about finishing a novel and getting published.  It’s about the ups and downs of a writing life.  Really it’s a chronicle of my journey to becoming a published author. It’s about making writing a part of my everyday life and turning it into a career.   F. Scott Fitzgerald said, “You don’t write because you want to say something, you write because you have something to say”. Here on this blog I plan to share my ideas, my struggles, my triumphs, and my advice.  Am I an expert?  No.  Do I have passion? Yes.  Do I have something to say? Most definitely!!

 Moreover this blog is about me. It’s about being a Dad to three children and what it teaches me about myself.  It’s about having a family and balancing it with work.  It’s about what’s important in my life and reaching towards my goals. It’s about life, love, and mostaccioli.  I hope to impart a little wisdom, gain a little insight, and grow as a person.  The scariest part is that I plan on sharing my life, my journey with whoever takes the time to read about it. 

 Who am I:  I am a husband, a father, a teacher, and a writer; to name a few of the hats I wear.  I am in my late 30’s and I have been married for 12 years.  I have three beautiful children (two boys age 7 &4, and one daughter under a year old). I teach High School History and English full time, and Adult Ed Government, History, and English two nights a week.  I like running, reading, downhill skiing, watching sports (I love college football), and spending time with my family. I am a writer.  I will become a published author.