No, it’s not an advert for weigh loss at the start of the year. Nor is it stepping, gingerly, through ice and snow (my thoughts are with those in the US during freezing conditions).
I’ve been a jogger (of sorts) for the last year and a bit. It’s to do with writing. Setting out for my daily route, following a path for a month, seeing what I notice along the way.
Every now and then, I’d grind to a halt. Then, after a bit, the urge to run (in print) would come over me again, and I’d start once more.
This year, I’m stepping off the regular route of monthly themes. I know some of where I’m going – and I’m looking forward to some mental stretching with writing more seriously about children’s literature.
But for the rest? So far, less sure what it looks like.
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My route to school pick up is often my thinking time for writing. Some months, I’ve walked and snaffled a moment or two along the way, where the circumstances presented themselves.
Right now, I set out and walk. I hope for some inspiration. I know I have chosen to give myself more space – by which I mean less pressure to write everyday.
But I still want to write fairly regularly. It’s just identifying what, that is putting me through my paces for now.
Setting a monthly theme has been fun (at least for me, and hopefully for a few of you too). You’ve got your route, you know where to go.
Every now and then you change route – and see things a bit differently. But you are still on the writing treadmill, as it were. More churn than burn.
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Writing every day is not a bad thing. It can be really good. But I’m unsure how to run, how to breathe, in this new season of writing.
It’s not jogging, it’s definitely not sprinting. I have more time to think about what to write – but also less certainty about will make it in.
(I should add that this uncertainty is about the other two posts per week. Lit Kid ideas are flowing – but it also feels right to keep them to once a week.)
You see, part of the point of writing on the blog less frequently is to make me focus on some more creative writing for myself. And for that, I’m not quite sure where I’m going either.
What feels right, for now, is very small steps. A great deal of going with gut instinct. A desire to increase the number of chunks of creative writing (whether they are ‘stories’ or just notes).
At the same time, there’s a real avoidance of ‘shoulds’. I think this is a good thing, but for a reformed perfectionist, it is quite challenging to keep at it.
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So I am sticking to an ‘inchworm‘ approach for now:
“Inchworm, inchworm,
Measuring the marigolds,
You and your arithmetic will probably go far…”
Inchworms don’t run round the block. They don’t plan half-marathons (as far as I know).
But they are able to move – and they do. And little by little, they get to where they are going to – even if they can’t see it when they start.
That feels as apt as anything for this year’s writing journey, right now.