Sore Muscles

I’ve been battling two kinds of soreness the past month. 

I started a new rigorous workout plan about three weeks ago that’s really kicking my fanny, and boy, have I been sore!  I expected to be sore the first few days, maybe a week, but three weeks?  I’m getting better at the exercises, definitely, and I’m able to do more each day.  The same muscles aren’t sore each time.  Last week my left triceps cried every time I did a pushup.  Today, it’s my left butt check.  Not both, just my left! 

But I’m hanging in there, kicking myself because I was in better shape last year than this year.  I’ve regressed.  I let the writing dominate my time and my mind, and my fitness levels suffered dreadfully.  I’m paying that price now.  In my head, I know that I’ll write better long term if I’m fit and healthy — I’ll certainly suffer less back and shoulder pain. 

Yet the Muse doth protest, because the past several weeks, it’s been a struggle to get anywhere in Vicki’s story.  You know I love her.  Jesse tugs on my heartstrings every time I open the file.  Elias’s bite is a scary as his bark, but he’s really a good guy.  I know what happens.  I’m not blocked.  I’m not dissatisfied with the way the story is going, not at all.

I just can’t get more than a page at a time, and even that’s a struggle.

Literally, I write a sentence, and then I’m distracted.  I work all night to get a handful of paragraphs.  I’m still dreaming the book, but it’s mostly replay of the key scenes I need to write, refining them in my mind.  Which is good.  Great!  if I could just make my mind sit still long enough to write them.

Granted, I’ve lost my lunch period to working out, but that’s not enough to justify my lack of progress.  It’s truly a mental distraction.  My mental facilities are planning the next workout, wondering if I ate too much of this or not enough of that, instead of wallowing in story.

That’s really the difference right now.  Even though I’m touching Vicki’s book every single day, when I don’t have her file open, I’m not thinking about it.  So when I sit down to write, those muscles feel…stiff.  By the time they’re warmed up, I’m tired (workouts right now are draining my energy, not increasing it, but I’m hoping that will change eventually) and I need to go to bed.  I haven’t been able to get up Dark & Early (see the tired comment), so I’m running out of writing time.

Now usually I’d probably be in a panic.  I’m driven to finish, finish, finish.  But it’s really a pretty good time for me to slow down just a bit.  I finished three major revisions in January.  February/first part of March has been more specific revisions for Carina.  I’m doing a lot of promo work.  I still need to do our taxes (groans!!!). 

While I’m not happy with Vicki’s progress (still haven’t broken 30K, but I am pretty close), I’m not stuck. 

So, I’m not going to push right now in the writing arena.  Vicki has her pace and so far she’s not complaining.  When she does, I’m sure my writing muscles will protest just a bit, but soon enough, they’ll be rearing to go.

If only my BODY was rearing to go for all this exercise!