So here we are in the final week of NaNoWriMo. How are things looking? Good? Great? Have you been surfing the crest of a steady wave of word count so far this November, banking with ease each day your 1,667 words and wondering what on Earth all the fuss is about?
No? I didn’t think so.
If you’re anything like me, you probably started the month in a majestic sprint the moment the starting pistol was fired, ran a couple hundred metres, twisted your ankle, pulled some muscle in your leg that you never knew existed, and have been limping along ever since. And that gap between where you were hoping to be right now and where you actually are is starting to look like an uncrossable chasm.
Speaking of running, I learned something important about this in the last few months.
I used to run a lot. And then I didn’t run for ages. And then, a few years ago, determined not to be beaten into defeat by the approach of a half century of existence, I started up again.
But where previously running had been relatively easy for me, I now found it hard. I now found it boring. Running was suddenly something tedious, something I had to endure rather than enjoy.
What I wanted to do – more than anything – was to get back to my level of fitness from about 2008, when I ran 10k in under 55 minutes. Well for 3 years now I’ve been trying to get back to that level, and I’ve improved slightly, but I’m still nowhere near that time.
And then, this year, I discovered something. Because of social distancing, I’d decided it would be better if I ran without my headphones, just in case I rounded a corner and there were people there. I wasn’t really happy about this, because listening to music was my way of dealing with the dullness of running, my way of ‘getting through it.’ But needs must, and so on.
Much to my surprise, I started to enjoy running again.
I think the distraction of music had prevented me from emptying my mind and enjoying the run. Once I started enjoying that experience again, I stopped getting stressed about my speed. I wasn’t running to get to some target any more, I was running just because I enjoyed running. And that made me enjoy it even more.
Then my speed actually did start to increase.
So if you’re getting stressed about NaNo this year, just stop, take a moment, and remind yourself why you write: because you enjoy it.
Turn off your music. Forget about your target. Immerse yourself in your novel. Love writing it.
You never know, you might just find yourself back on track before you know it.
