Write Good or Die

Then I realized that I never finish nonfiction unless I have a deadline. I don’t like writing nonfiction. I love writing fiction and will do it without a deadline. But the deadline gets me to finish nonfiction projects—my two columns, some articles, and now this.
    By meeting my deadline on this Guide every week, I’ve also established something else. I’ve got a streak going. I hate breaking streaks, so that’s motivation to work on weeks like this one, when I could just as easily post a note that the Guide is on a one-week hiatus.
    I learned long ago that I have to love what I’m doing to sustain the work. I loved working at the radio station, but hated it when I was in charge. So I kept quitting the paying work to go back to volunteering.
    I love writing fiction, so I continue to do it, even when times are tough.
    When I need to be disciplined, I have to find the love at the center of what I’m doing. Here’s an example. I have tried to maintain a regular exercise program since middle-aged spread hit in my mid-thirties (thanks in part to that hunger thing, above).
    I started with an exercise I love, swimming. But it was inconvenient. I had to drive half an hour each way to the pool. The hours were irregular, and I’d often lose too much work time. So I started riding my bicycle. I enlisted the help of a friend from the gym. I had to meet her a designated time every day. That got me out of the house.
    We couldn’t sustain the rides. Then I fell off the bike and broke my arm, the second serious bike accident in my life. (The first, when I was nine, smashed my face so badly, I still have occasional dental surgeries to repair the damage.) I realized that cycling on the Oregon Coast along a highway with no bike lanes (there are none for more than 100 miles) is too dangerous for me.
    So I decided to run. When I made this decision, I couldn’t run for a minute without feeling ill. I didn’t like it. I had never liked running. Worse, I got bored quickly.
    But I love music. If a song that I like comes on the radio, I crank the volume. If I’m alone in the house, I dance. So I put my favorite CDs on my iPod, and promised myself I could run for the length of one song.
    I couldn’t, not for weeks. Eventually I managed. But I wasn’t running because I liked running. I was using that time as an excuse to listen to my favorite music all by myself.
    Two years later, I can run for 30 minutes straight. When I feel like it’s time to find a new form of exercise, I realize it’s time to change the music in my iPod. I’m bored with what’s there. I would rather swim, honestly. I would like to be on my bike. But running works for me now. And I’ve become so conditioned to it that last week, when my iPod battery died, I played some music in my head and finished the workout.
    Could I do that every time? Hell, no. But I know how to make myself go out for a daily run now—and how to enjoy it. Set the iPod on shuffle and see what songs come up.
    It took me fifteen years to find a form of exercise I can do every day, rain or shine, one that I will do. And what gets me out there now isn’t the exercise or the need for it.
    It’s the half an hour of music. Which I love.
    So the most important aspect of discipline isn’t discipline at all. It’s this:
    4. Find the love. Find what you love about what you do, and channel that each and every day. Acknowledge it too. When I finish a run, I check in with myself. Inevitably, I feel better when I quit than I did when I started. I’ve told Dean that, and sometimes he’s gotten me outside by reminding me of it. (I have to tell you, it sometimes pisses me off that I feel better after a run when I felt so crummy before the run.) Celebrate your achievement, even if that achievement is just getting to your desk.
    Celebrate with something you enjoy.
    I used to celebrate a day’s writing by reading. Then I started editing, and reading ceased to be a reward for several years. In those years, I celebrated with a good movie or a guilty-pleasure TV show. Now I’m back to celebrating with reading.
    Which is what I’m going to do now.
    Oh, by the way, I’m no longer groggy from the nap, although I still feel under par. I did run today, and felt better afterwards (dammit!). And I got this section of the Guide done, two days early. I’ll post it late tomorrow, which will be one day early. Then I’ll get my day off. With cake.
    That’s my reward, along with all the fun things planned