It is my experience that we exercise out of fear. Yes, that’s right, fear. The medical community tells us that if we don’t move it, we will lose it. Whatever IT is for you, for me, it is flexibility. I have to work out to keep flexible, keep my muscles able to do their job.

Flab setting in doesn’t thrill me either, let me tell you.

So, as I crawled out of bed today and contemplated doing some exercise, it occurred to me how a consistent writing life is like exercise.

1. You have to pace yourself. You cannot fling yourself into the writing chair and go non-stop writing gibberish. You have to take your time and craft a story. Much like how we cannot jump on a treadmill and go at it without thought for our muscles who haven’t quite been waked up yet.

2. There are different types of exercise and there are different types of writing. Some might like the quick pace of a thriller and enjoy the more than 3 miles an hour pace on the streets around the neighborhood. Personally, I am more the “can I just amble along discovering things as I go” person.

3. And finally as with exercise, practice makes perfect. You will become a better writer with time. You will also lose that spare tire around your middle with time. You will have great dialogue with a lot of practice and you will have a great bicep the more you stress it with weight.

All good things come with time says the old cliche and it is true.

I hope you have chuckled at least once through this blog post. We all need the best exercise, laughter. And if the mental image of me sweating to the oldies doesn’t make you laugh, you are indeed a tough customer.