As the water cools across the East Coast, triathlon season dwindles and by early October, comes to a quiet close. The rest of my season? I'm doing a sprint-distance this weekend, which is more like a long workout than an actual race. You register the day of the race, no racing numbers to pin on, no marker on the arms and thighs, no timing chip and no hills. That's my kind of tri. And I'm considering traveling to Phoenix in late October to visit my sister and compete in a Quarterman (that's got a nice ring, no?), but that depends how the my hip/thigh feels on the run this weekend. And that concludes the season. Mentally and physically, I'm ready for a break. Tennis and ballet sound really good to me right now. I'm also feeling a little beefy in the arms and legs, not what I'd been going for at the start of all this.
As I wind down on tri's, I'm winding up on writing, or trying to. My business turned one last week, with much fanfare, and with the first year out of the way, I feel like my days off can finally be filled with what had been intended since Paragraph's inception--writing. My days off are Monday and Wednesday and half day Friday, as well as weekends. I always have some Paragraph work to do on weekdays off, or as much as I'll allow myself to do--update our blog, add pictures to the blog, research and order a digital camera, and so on and so on. And I'll have some training to do, and sometimes I'll plan a day at the beach or go furniture shopping with my mother, or clean and do laundry and walk the dog endlessly, and poof, no writing gets done. But that's winding down, as well. For the past few weeks, my days off have been spent home writing.
What is a writing day?
It usually kicks off after lunch, around two or three o'clock.
By half past three, I can't believe I've only been at it half an hour. I feel drained. I want to take a nap. I can't stand the story I'm working on, and I can't stand the thought of opening any other story and starting a new edit. I can't remember if I've brushed my teeth today. I wonder if making coffee will help. I make coffee. I look at myself in the mirror. I check email. I poke at the story for another half an hour. Repeat. I add up total writing time and it's at least two hours, I hope. I tell myself that's enough that I can check email again and blog. I wonder if blogging counts as writing. Or if it will loosen my writing. I look at myself in the mirror. I plan a long walk with the dog that will include getting something to eat or make for dinner. I remember that I forgot to do laundry. Can I do it Friday? I plan to write more after dinner. I also received two Netflix movies in the mail today. Will I write after dinner? The dog tells me he's ready for a walk. I've cut a story from 21 pages to 16 pages. It's been a more successful writing day than Monday. Writing takes stamina perhaps. It will get better every week. I walk the dog. Poof, the day's over. But I'm just winding up.
