The Sport of Blogging

I know, blogging isn’t a sport, but sometimes it seems to be. On some mornings, when I wake up at 5:30 a.m., I am raring to go! Writing is easy and the words flow so quickly I can’t keep up with them. On other days, it’s the opposite. It’s a slugfest – me against the computer. I’m at the starting block, I have noble intentions, and yet I can’t seem to get going.

Writing, like any sport takes discipline. I write every day whether I’m feeling inspired or not. For me, it’s a necessity. I’m drawn to it and it’s part of my regimen. My day would not be complete without putting pen to paper. I know athletes feel a similar pull. It’s imperative for a runner to run, a tennis player to practice her serve, a soccer player to juggle the ball, and for plenty of players to pump iron in order to stay fit.

I understand that. I used to run myself . . . every day. I wasn’t a superstar by any means, but I enjoyed the challenge of setting goals, recording my runs, and going farther than I had before sometimes. I ran a half marathon when I was in my mid-thirties in two hours and five minutes. I was elated although my calf muscles “told” me I had my limits.

So sports are oddly similar to writing. Composing a fine line or two is incredibly fulfilling or holding my novel and realizing, “I did that!” feels fantastic. Yet, that aside, I still find myself craving quiet moments when I can simply let my mind go, allowing my thoughts to filter out onto paper word by word by word. It clears my head, just as running used to do. With every stride of my run my views, my judgments, and my feelings shifted and sorted. It was very satisfying. So it is with writing, and particularly with writing blogs. I may have huffed and puffed my way through, but completion, however decent or deficient, is a breakthrough.