The Writer's High

When I made the decision to start an exercise routine, I started out slow. I did about twenty minutes of pilates a day for flexibility and core strengthening and walked a mile at least five days a week. After a few weeks the thought occurred to me to add in a little running. The first two weeks was pretty rough, I was completely out of breath after a short run, but I kept pressing on. Another week into it, I found I was breathing easy at the end of my run, so I decided to push myself a little further. The next day when I came to my run marker, I kept going. I grew tired and weary, but I looked ahead and set a goal. If I could just make it to my goal, I would slow down to a walk and allow my body to cool down a bit. What I found was when I pressed past the point of weariness, I was flooded with a rush strength and power, so much strength that I didn't want to stop when I passed my goal. It was a runner's high that made me feel wonderful! 

I've found that my writing is similar. I start out slow, making my outline, detailing information about my characters, and researching the things I need to lay everything out properly. I often find that when I start the actual writing process, it's pretty rough. One or two pages are turmoil to type as I pull my thoughts together and look frequently to my outline and characters, but I push myself to go a little further each day, setting a writing goal when I can. (Work days are not really possible since I'm not at home). As I pace through the room mulling over the plot and subplots and how to pull them all together, I grow weary of trying to figure it all out, but then as I type that one extra scene, a character says one word, and that one word floods my mind with a torrent of information on how to pull everything together and tie it in a nice little bow. It's the writer's high! You know that high that comes when your mind is bombarded with a beautiful flow of words spilling onto the keypad through your fingertips, and your fingers move at an incredible rate of speed, and you're left to wonder if you will be able to stop. You don't want to, in fact. Ah, it's an amazing feeling, and it makes all the rough places worth every ounce of sweat and tears!