Do you have the stamina for writing? – Miss Write

Chris Boardman, Olympic gold medalist, multiple Tour de France prologue winner and British Cycling’s policy advisor, is an encouraging man:

“Failure is a subjective term: is it a fail if you have to get off and walk up a hill? Or a win because you’ve bitten off more than you can chew and are doing it anyway? I tend to lean heavily towards the latter.”     (source)

Catching up on The Guardian’s Bike Blog earlier today, I spotted this quote, and I tend to agree. Of course, I thought about my epic ride into Wales when I struggled with some hills (and flats!) – but never walked! – but funnily enough, the writing, sometimes as strenuous as cycling uphill, popped into my head too. 

How many of us have started something with great enthusiasm and then ‘got off and walked’ – or indeed, stopped all together – when the going got tough? 

I have, for sure. I have started blogs and left them in draft (often just to get the idea down for later, ,but yes, sometimes as I run out of steam writing it). I’ve also written half a novel and abandoned it for lack of endurance. I was only saying last week that I feel the stirrings of return-to-my-novel-writing. I hit about 30,000 words almost exactly two years ago, and suddenly stopped. I was stuck at the 30k mark, not quite sure how to pass that check-point. That was why my first book (no longer in print)) was just over 30,000 words – I didn’t have the stamina to get any further. Saying that, when I wrote my 5,000 word dissertation at university, 30k would have been impossible! The book was complete, don’t get me wrong; I know it wasn’t a 100,000 word tome in the making, but this second book had more miles in it than my first effort. We all have our comfort zone, and mine seems to be about 30,000 words. 

However, I want to push my boundaries. Build my strength and stamina as a writer. Prove it to myself. Why not embrace the challenge and scribble harder?

Hopefully I haven’t bitten off more than I can chew. Hopefully my writing muscles can get me to the finish line, up and over the hills. I’ve never been good at starting the pedals on a slope, but maybe this is where the cycling analogy ends. I’m a pro at hill-starts in the car!

Wish me luck – I’m planning on returning to ‘Scrabble Pieces‘, my ‘next big thing‘, this month. 

Lou x

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