Healthy Writers Club: Just Go Fo It!

Inspired by Josh Clark’s article on the site, coolrunning.com, I’ve been doing a Couch-to-5K training since Oct 2012. Really, I have. Yep, with breaks.

About weekly I share my Exercise Log to stay accountable to my commitment to my health and to the Healthy Writers Club, a collection of writers dedicated to health and movement started by author Shallee McArthur. In this log, I also reflect on my writing, creativity, and a creative life.

And because some people have asked, and I’ve mentioned it in previous posts, I use the cool iPhone app called Seconds Pro (their site: http://www.secondsapp.com/) to stay focused for this interval training. I love this app because I can customize it for each week’s training.

Tuesday, Jan. 15th: I walked in the neighborhood, actually using the Week #5 of the Couch-to-5K workout. Finally. 🙂

Friday, Jan. 17th: Lovely hour long walk and chat with neighbor and friend Meta Lackland, from our block to the Mountain View Cemetery, up the slope there, and back. In the lovely spring-ish warmer weather.

Saturday, Jan. 19th: I walked from Gaylords Cafe where I was having a writing date with my husband and author, Ezra Barany. (Author of the bestselling The Torah Codes.) He watched the fort while I listened to NPR and walked up to the cemetery. I headed for and almost got to one of my favorite grave monuments, a huge fancy, and beautiful, pillar to a Henry D. Cogswell, 19th century philanthropist and crusader in the temperance movement, and his wife, Caroline Cogswell.

Monday, Jan. 21st: Nordic Track Ski Machine, 11 minutes while watching the opening episode of Firefly. No comment on length. Important thing is I did something.

Tuesday, Jan. 22nd: Walk, stroll really, up and down Piedmont Ave. to the gate of the Mountain View Cemetery and back.

Wednesday, Jan. 23rd: Finally, back at Capoeira. I had the courage and comfort level to do the pair work, and start to learn the sequences that I will eventually be tested on for my first belt.

Friday, Jan. 25th: I have a new commitment to walk 30 minutes every day. Will I hold myself to it? To do it, I have to schedule it, actually put it in my calendar and make and take the time. Just like writing. Hmmm. So I didn’t walk Thursday but I did walk Friday and did my Week #5 workout, modified, with fast and slow walking, and with slowing down when my heel pain got to be too much.

So on to Exercising and Writing:

It’s been a busy time at Casa Beth and Ezra. After the slow winter break, and huge amounts of confusion about my direction in my writing and in my business, I feel a hug spurt of creativity, focus, and drive. I’m sure some of it has to do with getting more support in my creative business by taking part in a 6-month mentorship program with Jennifer Lee in her Right-Brain Mentorship Program, and working on my Right-Brain Business Plan. (I’ll share more about that in a future post, or series of posts!)

But I also realize the value of breaks. We need breaks in exercise so the body can heal. Because what we’re actually doing with we exercise is tear muscle. So we need to actually rest, ie., no intense worksing out, so our body can repair itself.

Same with the creative mind. For years, since I was at least I was 17, I’ve doing this cycle of intense activity, then burnout, then forced rest, then a whole burst of energy again after feeling caged by all the down time. THere’s something exhiliaring about all the new projects that I’ve taken on, but I realize I need still more empty time to keep the ideas flowing. So I need more down time, to chedule more time. More writing retreats.

Do you have this issue?

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More info on the Healthy Writers Club and
my fellow writers participating here:
http://www.shalleemcarthur.com/p/the-healthy-writers-club.html.

At last count we are up to 32 writers! Woot! Together we are strong! Shallee, Thanks for creating this movement!

A shout out to Shallee for getting back into it. Stars Wars Kinect! Cool!

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How about you? Share your exercise and how it supports your writing, both casual and otherwise, below, and let’s support each other!

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PS. When I’m not walking, or writing, I help authors create successful books and careers, as a writing coach and book marketing consultant and advisor. If you want personalized, tailored one-on-one support, that’s what I’m excellent at.

Contact me for a Discovery Session to see how a writing coach, award-winning author, Certified Creativity Coach and Master NLP Practitioner can help you fall in love with your writing, again. Sign up for a 60-Minute Complimentary Coaching Discovery Session here. I give away 10 slots per month, and I’m booking for January and February 2013 now.