Walk Write Challenge for Getting More Out of May
Katharine Grubb – author of The 10 Minute Novelist and fearless leader of the Facebook group with the same name – recently challenged me to a 5K day. Basically, I am to write 5000 words in a day AND complete a 5K on that same day.
IMPOSSIBLE!
Believe me, that was my first cry as well. “Come on. Is it not enough that you have challenged me to write 365K throughout the year?”
Someone else in the group pointed out that a 5K was only 3.1 miles. That changed things for me. I live in the woods and we have carved out a nice little walking trail. It is right at one mile. I could complete a 5K with just three laps around my yard.
POSSIBLE.
I decided to “train” for the big day by walking a lap a day until the big day. I timed my lap, and even at a leisurely stroll, it only took thirty minutes.
IDEA!
Writers get a bad rap for not being more active – mainly because writers sit a lot . . . so that we can write. I have been struggling to find a way to boost my energy for the second half of the day and Katharine’s challenged sparked a plan.
Each afternoon, I will take a lap around the yard. For one whole month, I will complete 1/1000. I will walk one mile and I will write 1000 words.
For the next month, I will complete 2/2000. I will walk two miles a day and write 2000 words a day.
My ultimate goal will be to work up to 5/5000. I have always loved hiking, but over the years the accumulation of inactivity stole that love. It is more of a labor than anything else. Working up to a five mile daily walk will make that love a possibility again – plus it will get a LOT of words down on paper.
Challenges can be the perfect route to accountability and accountability can drive your writing career. Will you join me in the 1/1000 Walk/Write Challenge for May?
