Monday, April 19, 2010

The ground is still hard

This last weekend I went roller-skating with a friend of mine. It has been years since I went and it took a while to remember how to move on skates. I wasn't on the new cool in-line skates; I was totally old school with the four wheels and stopper. After a while I was skating around with my eight year old having a great time. There was authentic seventies and eighties music playing and I was transported to my elementary school self. I was feeling pretty confident, dancing as I skated and decided to try a fancier skating technique. In a instant, before I even knew what was happening, I was on the ground with no idea how I had gotten there. I blinked in a sort of daze. Kids were soaring by me and people swerved around me as I quickly dusted myself off and discovered a sore butt and soon to be bruised wrist. I steadied myself and, injuries aside, I started skating again, still having fun. It was even better because now I had war wounds and a story to share. I wasn't embarrassed or ashamed I fell. I used to fall when I was younger so I knew that wouldn't have changed now that I was older and haven't skated in years. In all honesty, my fall made me and my friends laugh. Soon we were all giggling together. I skated the rest of the session still feeling fine. A little beat up, but fine. Sadly though, two days later, I'm still icing my tail bone and my wrist is a little sore. Even with that, though, I would still go skating again because I had enough fun to make up for the pain.

It reminded me of writing too (everything seems to these days). We, as writers, are having a great time plotting our stories, doing great, when suddenly we stumble over a scene/line/character and we end up on the ground not even realizing we were falling. Then we get up, dust ourselves off and keep on writing. We may be a little sore from our setback but we keep going. Why? Because despite the setback, bruises, and ice-packs, the journey and experience are totally worth it. We have friends who can commiserate with us and offer us a hand up when we need one. We stand up a little wiser than we were before each fall and press forward knowing every fall, bump and obstacle will only make us better in the long run.

6 comments:

TAWNA FENSKE said...

Great post! Timely, too, as I've been thinking lately about buying some inline skates or even roller skates as a way to exercise with our super-hyper dog. Good to know the ground is still hard. Will make sure to buy extra padding, as I'm still breakable!

Tawna

notesfromnadir said...

Thank you for encouraging us to skate! Please skate again when you feel up to it. Why? Because writing is so sedentary that we need to do a physical activity that we find FUN. And skating is so much fun. Sure, you'll fall, but that means you're learning. If you don't fall you don't make any progress!

Wendy Swore said...

Howdy! It was awesome visiting with you at boot camp! And congrats on your chapter winning!! very, very cool. Are you on facebook? I'm having trouble finding you there.

Happy writing, my friend!

Lani Woodland said...

Hi Wendy! It was great being at your boot camp table. :) I was so impressed with your writing! Thanks for the congrats. I was stunned!

Lani Woodland said...

Tawana and notesfromnadir let me know how your skating goes! My wrist is fine but my tailbone is still sore. Still I'm looking forward to skating again! :)

notesfromnadir said...

Hi Lani,
Will probably go again this weekend. Wish I had more time as I used to skate a lot.
Make sure your tailbone isn't sore when you skate again.
Looking forward to reading more about your skating adventures! :)