Sometimes life just happens. That’s an understatement.
I recently went through a period when I should’ve been working hard on a novel due for my agent—and I did, honest!—but business concerns and dealing with the aftermath of my father’s unexpected death had to fit on the plate as well.
So the first thing I did was go mountain biking.
Hurtling down hills, ducking tree branches and roots, and leaning into curves all do one thing very well. It keeps you from thinking about anything else, which was a gift this last year.
One tricky feature of my favorite off-road track is sand—fine, pale gray sand. It gets into everything from your socks to your derailleur. If you hit it wrong, you could wind up toting your bike up a hill while spitting sand. If you don’t want to do that—and you don’t—there’s only one solution.
Don’t stop pedaling. Maintain speed, shift your weight back, set your eyes about ten yards past the sand, don’t look down, and don’t stop pedaling.
If you lose even an iota of momentum, the sand will grab your tires and torque them, tossing you into the underbrush. If you’re especially lucky, someone will be coming the other way on the trail at that very moment to share your shame.
Which is a lot like life. When the small, irritating things mount so high that you can hardly lift your feet, the worst thing you can do is shuffle to a stop. You’ll just sink under the weight of them, and then it takes twice as long to slog past a bad patch. Set your eyes past the problem, bear down, and don’t stop pedaling.
And life is a lot like writing…or the other way around. In any event, the best thing you can do is not. Don’t stop pedaling, don’t stop going, don’t stop writing.