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19.3.13

ON YOUR FEET! The benefits of exercise.

What is it about walking that sets the creative juices flowing? I always think more clearly on the move and this morning was no exception.
I started off on my usual route, munching an apple and brooding over a rejection, but when I threw away the core for the lizards to find I gave myself a severe scold and forced the grey cells onto my latest project - re-writing my novel Helter-Skelter.
I had been reading one chapter yesterday afternoon and as I began thinking about that this morning it suddenly dawned on me that it contained a serious error in chronology. After numerous readings this is the first time it has occurred to me, which just goes to show that you can skim over your own mistakes far too easily - but even my daughter, who reads everything I write, hadn't noticed.
So I stopped at a cafe, ordered a coffee, and scribbled some notes before I could forget my flash of insight. I go for a walk most mornings - perhaps I should do so more often, and for longer.

10 comments:

  1. I find cycling a great help to the writing process. Get settled in to a steady rhythm, then you can go in to auto-pilot and let the creative juices flow. I've had lots of good ideas on the bike

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  2. Perhaps I should have said "On your bike!"

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  3. When your mind is free, thoughts come to you unbidden. I often wonder if they're your own thoughts. Maybe a gardian angel is watching over you.

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  4. I know I've done a lot of plotting while on my motorcycle or back of hubby's. Used to be shower time was my thinking time. Living in a traveling RV with a minimal water heater, that's no longer a luxury I can enjoy. LOL!

    I've started walking daily (trying to improve my health) but have been walking to music to keep a good 3mph pace. That means singing instead of thinking. I might have to take a day or two off from that and let the brain flow. ;-)

    BTW, we are taking a month's vacation in Ecuador to evaluate an ex-pat move!

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  5. Francene - what a lovely thought! I could use a guardian angel.
    Donna - A month isn't long enough to discover how much you will miss family and friends back home. Make a list of pros and cons and really study it before making an irrevocable decision. I only see my grandsons twice a year and it's not enough.

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  6. Many years of low level walking was always very enjoyable for me if only time & space to think - one of lifes joys & can be thereuputic. Alas no more.

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  7. Being active often leads to ideas for me too.

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  8. I second that about seeing grandchildren, Lizy - it simply isn't enough. Walking is great, because your feet are doing all the work and letting your mind do its own thing. I know it's simply impossible to edit your own work - you always miss something obvious, because you read what you think you wrote, not what the words actually say.
    Walking is the best exercise you can get, and it's free. There - you re-work a novel and lower your cholesterol at the same time!

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  9. I find myself glossing over my work more than once - somehow my brain seems to think it knows the words on the page... It sometimes does not!

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  10. Because we're already full-time RVers, we only see family 1-2x a year and sometimes less. Been that way since 2007. Our kids (10, grandkids (25) and greatgrands (1) are scattered all across the US. We've also already downsized so that would help. We would still make one annual visit back to see family and take a cruise (which we love). Hugs!!

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