With this new year comes a new way of furthering my writing aspirations while also benefiting me in another way as well. Part time novelists need to find creative ways to make their time count as it’s a constant battle to balance the demands of your day job, everyday life and the need to write.
One of those everyday life components is to take care of one’s health, and unless you work in a job where you get plenty of exercise, many of us need to seek this out intentionally. That’s often the rub as needing the time for other things, like sleeping, eating and writing, often competes with the need to exercise. This also provides a convenient excuse to put off exercising, if I’m honest about things, which I always am on my blog.
Enter an idea that I first looked at as somewhat goofy,.. again, being honest about it,.. but the more I thought about the concept, the more ingenious I thought it could be. What if I could exercise AND write my newest novel at the same time? Game changer,.. I thought! Two driving motivations at the same time. That early morning hour could be filled with the exercise I need for my body to be healthy, and the writing time I need to work on my next novel. One effort to preserve my health, the other to explore my creativity. Both fulfilling life needs and both motivations helping to support each other.
So off to Amazon I went, and after much consternation over which would be the right purchase for me, I settled on the Excerpuetic ExerWork 1000. I’m sure there was a 2000 version that would be even better to use, but I haven’t optioned any novel to Hollywood yet, so the 1000 version it would be. With some minor assembly required, I found a small spot in a room to set it up, with plenty of plug access, and I was in business. Apart from a small detour when we had relatives come over for the holidays, this has become a functional alternative that allows me to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak.
Now that I have things put back in order again I’m going to do my best to make this a normal routine so that I can get both benefits at the same time. Another positive motivating factor to get me from point A, to the point of this whole exercise, which is to complete my next novel, Burt’s Bots. Here’s to my goal of success for me in both of these areas in the coming year.
Progress Report:
“Inheriting S.O.F.I.A.” Novel Progress: DONE, published
“Burt’s Bots” Novel Outline progress:
Outline: 19,416 words (Getting the story down first)
Novel 1st Draft: 13,367 (Went back to outlining 1st though)