The Writing Peasant

So, this might come as a surprise to some of you, but I do other things than just write. Once upon a time, I was even a pretty serious athlete, putting in 14-18 hours a week of my sport.

My sport? Jiu-Jitsu.

Yeah. Me. Unfortunately, I am not active in it anymore – it was just too hard on my system/body/joints/brain, etc. Eventually, I might go back and start practicing again, but I’ll have to take it one day at a time. BUT. There is one part that I can still actively participate in, and that is in the running (or rather facilitating the running) of tournaments. And that’s what I was doing a couple of weeks ago, and part of the reason why I’ve been behind on my blog posts (and writing. Eh-heh.) Turns out, even doing something as fairly benign as running scoreboards takes energy. Setting up and breaking down takes even more energy, and so even though I took a day off, it didn’t feel like it, and I’ve had to take a couple of days to recover.

BUT. Doing stuff like this is really important for me. Let me explain why.

As a writer, I have to give you slices of reality, and without having experienced it, I can’t write about it. When movies portray writers as shut-ins, wracked with writer’s block, it’s all I can do to not shout at the screen to get out and do something (and sometimes I still do.) Go work in your garden! Go watch a movie. Go clean your fridge, or sing karaoke, or visit a university campus. (NOTE: If you have deadlines, you might have to power through this a little. This is not legal advice, haha.) Without the benefit of being exposed to the lights and colors and aromas and tastes of the world, it makes it that much more difficult to write about.

That’s why I have outside hobbies.

That’s why there will be more tournaments.

And I’m so excited.

That’s all for now, my friends. Until next time! Onwards and upwards!