Three Rs (by Margie Gelbwasser)

Recharging, relaxing, and writing. I like each of these things. The problem is that I usually only do the last one.

Over the summer, I had a routine. My son would go to camp, I'd go to the gym or for a run, and then I'd write the rest of the day. I felt great. Not only was I productive (at least 10k words a week), but I felt good and the ideas were flowing. Then, the school year began, and everything went downhill.

This is my schedule now. Work at school until 3, get my son from his school, take him to activities, do homework with him, get dinner ready, zonk out and watch tv. The writing? So, you noticed it missing from the schedule too, huh? Exercise? Yep. Vanished. I'm under a deadline now so my last few weekends have been marathon sessions of revising and I'm exhausted, mentally and physically. I want to recharge and go for a walk or run. I often get my best ideas this way, but there's no time. If I wrote full time, it would be a different story.

At this point, I can't afford to slow down (deadline looming, biting, barking), but as soon as I'm done with this book, I'm reevaluating my plans. One of my friends and I have already made plans to write at least one night a week, and I have a gym coupon itching to get activated. In the meantime, I just have to keep my head in the game and try to squeeze in a walk this weekend. Or a food shopping trip. Who wants to put bets on which task will win?

I'm afraid this entry was a bit of a bummer so let me leave you with some relaxing photos of places I like to run. Pretend I'm there. :-)