Don't get me wrong. This is not a blog to brag about my running prowess. I nearly didn't make it. Truth be told, I wouldn't have done it, would have quit and called my husband to pick me up a few miles in if it hadn't been for a little help from my friends.
You see, running long for me is tough for a number of reasons, a lot of them physical, some of them mental. (Yes, yes. I AM mental for running that long. Haha. As if I haven't heard that before.) My patellas don't track straight so I have to tape up my knees when I run hills or run over 7 miles. As a woman, I have hip issues that contribute to my knee issues, which lead to a whole host of aches and pains, tight muscles and ligaments. I'm tall and not a super-skinny person, either. Pushing around my weight is easier than it used to be since losing a bunch of fat and training 3-4 days a week, but it still ain't no walk in the park. And since I've only been running 2 1/2 years, I'm still a baby in the sport. My mental prowess is still developing and I'm still learning the difference between "need to quit" pain and "being a pansy" pain.
So what do I do? I go to our local Facebook page and recruit my own personal posse of runners who run at my speed (or a little faster to push myself) who help keep me going. The same people may not be running with me the whole time, but by running in several loops, I can run with different sets of people and get my entire run in while they get whatever milage they want, too. Everyone wins.
What does this have to do with writing? Everything!
If you want to publish, you really should write quality work. That means critique groups and/or editing services. Either way, you have to make working friendships with these people to trust them enough to 1) let them read your work and 2) believe they are trying to help you rather than insult your parantage and current lifestyle choices. Building a network of beta readers, critiquing friends, editing pals, whatever you want to call them, is key, I believe, in helping writers make it through the "long runs" of editing works into their best shape.
Second, if you want to market your published, quality work, you need to create a network of friends who will not only read your work but share your work with others. These fans aren't necessarily the people you'll share your deep-dark secrets with, but you do have to mingle, socialize, and get to know hundreds, perhaps thousands of people to create a network of supporters to make any money at all in the publishing field. Competition is fierce in every genre. What's the difference between your book and mine? If you know me, have shook my hand, and have made a connection with me, you're more likely to buy and read my book.
The last four or five miles of today's run, my body was done. Finished. Caput. It's a fueling issue I'll have to address on future long runs since I'm in training for a marathon. So what did I have left? My mind and my friends. My mind knew I could finish the distance because I had done it before. My friends knew I could finish because they believed in me. You really need both in the writing business to succeed.
I can't tell you how to develop a positive attitude except to keep pounding those keys and keep submitting work. Practice. Practice. Practice. We're going to write a lot of bad stuff before we write any good stuff. That's just reality. Once I realized that, I didn't feel so bad about my bad stuff.
But friends...although I always advocate being honestly who you are, you also have to treat others the way you would want to be treated. I've found balancing those two ideas has worked for me. Except with some people who just aren't happy with anything. Let them be unhappy. They're not worth your energy or mine. They probably don't buy good books anyway.
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