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Beauty on the Backroads

Stories of grace for life's unexpected turns

discipline

A novel experience

November 30, 2011

Waking up at 5 a.m. is crazy, right?

Waking up at 5 a.m. every day for a month, even crazier.

I mean, it’s not like I had a baby to feed. My kids wake up early, but even 5 a.m. is early for them.

So, what would have compelled me to lose sleep, drink more coffee and wake up before the sun?

One word: NaNoWriMo.

Okay, so that’s not really a word. But it is the reason. I first heard about National Novel Writing Month last year while it was going on, and I was unprepared to participate. It’s been on my radar ever since, so when November approached this year, I created a plan to complete the goal of NaNoWriMo: write a 50,000-word novel from November 1-30.

The plan included waking up at 5 a.m. daily to write as much as I could before the first child woke up for the day.

Some days, I succeeded. Success to me was 1,000 words or more per day. Other days, I failed miserably. And by that I mean I didn’t even get out of bed.

But as of today, November 30, the final day of NaNoWriMo, I’m proud to say that I have written 35,000 words this month. Added to a previous 7200 or so that I’d written before the month started, and I now have over 42,000 words of a novel written.

What?!?

I knew going into this that I probably wasn’t going to make the 50,000 mark. My kids woke up earlier than usual. The words wouldn’t come. I had other writing projects to finish. My husband needed the computer. But I knew that whatever I accomplished was success because I rarely make writing a priority. How can I? I full-time parent two full-time kids.

This exercise proved to me that it can be done, but it requires sacrifice, namely sleep, but I’m convinced that’s why God allowed coffee to be created. Mmm … coffee.

Where was I? Oh, yeah. What I learned from NaNoWriMo.

Not only did it teach me discipline in making room in my day for writing, it also confirmed my call to write. At the same time, it frustrated my call to write. On the days I got in a good chunk of writing, I felt like a better mom because I wasn’t thinking about writing all day long. I’d already done it. Other days, I barely scratched across 500 words because I was out of the chair every five minutes to grant a breakfast request for my kids or change a diaper or wipe a bottom.

I haven’t gone back yet to review what I’ve written, but I’m in awe of the story that has unfolded. I don’t say that to brag on myself. I am convinced that God has called me to write, and to write this story in particular. Maybe that sounds weird or arrogant, but that’s the best way I can explain it.

Writing a novel is hard work. Duh, right? I think I have as many questions in the margins as I do words on the page. I’m eager to do some research and fill in the blanks. I don’t know if this story will ever see the light of day beyond my computer, but I’ve started the journey and I’ll go as far as God allows me to go.

To all you WriMos out there who made the 50,000 mark — way to go!

To all who participated — you rock!

And if you thought about it but didn’t — maybe next year?

Thanks, NaNoWriMo, for the inspiration.

It’s been a November to remember.

Filed Under: faith & spirituality, Writing Tagged With: called to write, calling, coffee, discipline, my first novel, National Novel Writing Month, sleep deprivation, writing

3 is the magic number

October 3, 2010

Week 3, Day 1. Saturday’s training included a 3-minute run, no walking. So far, that’s our longest stretch of straight running. I was a little nervous, but like anything else, it’s partly mental. And, it wasn’t as bad as I thought it would be, also like the rest of the running so far. We took the kids again, even though the temperature when we left the house was barely 50 degrees.

Because of the chill in the air, I made a rookie mistake: wearing pants. By the time the run was over, I was hot from the waist down. My husband, who is more experienced at running in a variety of weather conditions and temperatures, said it would have been better to wear shorts and a long sleeve shirt instead of long pants and a long sleeve shirt. I think I agreed with him afterward but would love to hear how others of you deal with the cold while running. The 5K we’re looking at is the weekend before Thanksgiving, and I don’t know what the temperature will be like. But the next month or so should give me a better idea what running in cool weather is like.

We’re learning to be flexible and creative with our running schedule, making a point to find three days in a week to fit in our run. I shed a little more weight this week, and Phil was asked today if he’s been losing weight. He doesn’t rely on those sorts of measurements to track his progress, but I’m hoping we both see results, physically, from this training.

Another set of 3 minute runs tomorrow. I can’t believe I actually look forward to this now.

Filed Under: Our first 5K Tagged With: 5K, cold weather, discipline, fitness, running, weight loss

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Hi. I’m Lisa, and I’m glad you’re here. If we were meeting in real life, I’d offer you something to eat or drink while we sat on the porch letting the conversation wander as it does. That’s a little bit what this space is like. We talk about books and family and travel and food and running, whatever I might encounter in world. I’m looking for the beauty in the midst of it all, even the tough stuff. (You’ll find a lot of that here, too.) Thanks for stopping by. Stay as long as you like.

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