"In this room, there's pain."

My post is a little late this morning.  I was up early, but the schedule was packed.  There was birthday morning tea and coffee, horses to tend to (the cute little girl who is supposed to be watching the THREE of them this weekend was at a sleepover), a neighbor's dog to care for, a cute little girl to pick up from the aforementioned sleepover, and then the highlight of the morning -  a shared near death experience.

We even got to pay for it.

And we're going to do it again.  Madness.

Death Trap, 1982

My wife and I took a "kettlebell" class.  I suppose I should call it a session.  I would have answered any question just to make it stop.  I've done some pretty crazy workouts but the intensity here was impressive.  It was at a Brazilian jiu jitsu place.  I'm ready for the octagon now.

The funniest part of the morning was when we got home and headed from the van to the house.  Getting out of the car was okay, wobbling to the porch wasn't bad, but when we tried to climb the steps we were stopped.  The jello that had been molded into the shape of our legs just didn't want to do any more climbing. We hit the first step at the same time, looked at each other at the same time, and laughed.  I don't know, maybe you had to be there.

Are pouring everything into your writing?  When you are done, are you so drained that you can barely write a coherent grocery list and need time to recover?  I'm not necessarily saying you should write yourself ragged, but write with intensity.  Block out the world and give it everything you've got.  When you are done, you're done - step back and recharge.  You'll hit the next round stronger and more confident.  It's hard to write with intensity, hard to face a blank screen or ignore phones, tweets, email, or Words With Friends.  If it was easy, everyone would BE a writer, not just say they thought about it.

Need more motivation?  While you are writing, you don't have to do a Russian Swing.