Healthy Writers and Baseball Blahs

For the past few years I've had a regular exercise routine that I stuck to fairly faithfully and, as a result, I felt better than I had in a long time. But over the summer I lost my motivation and became extremely lazy, losing my routine in the process. So I was glad when I came upon Shallee McArthur's blog last week and discovered her Healthy Writers Club.

I thought the club was a great idea and signed up right away in the hopes that joining in on the project would help me get some of my motivation and discipline back. I know from experience that I am more productive with my writing when I am also walking regularly, so it's a win-win situation for me.

With the club in mind, Clancy and I hit the walking trails around my place this week. Clancy is a fierce advocate for the couch potato lifestyle, so he wasn't thrilled. In fact, this is a fairly accurate depiction of his reaction to my renewed motivation.

In spite of his grumpiness, we managed to get about 10 miles of walking in this week which, while not great, wasn't a bad start.

I'm now hoping I can carry that energy over into getting a lot of work done on my WIP The Ghosts of Aquinnah this weekend.

I really need to be productive over the upcoming weekend, as I spent the vast majority of my time this week engaging in the exercise in futility known as cheering for the Cincinnati Reds.

Source: Wikimedia Commons

When I wrote my R is for Reds post back in April, I was extremely pessimistic about the Reds' season. I should have held on to that pessimism even though the team managed to go on an amazing run over the summer and win their division.

I thought it was safe to be optimistic when the Reds went up 2-0 on the road in the NLDS against the San Francisco Giants. I should have known better.

All the Reds had to do was come back home to Cincinnati and win ONE out of three games in order to advance. The town was electric and fans were thrilled, and I rearranged my schedule, bought party food, and even used PTO time at work so I could watch the games.

What I got in return was a colossal meltdown the likes of which has rarely been seen, as it turned out that winning that one game was impossible for the Reds. They threw away their lead and lost three games in a row, losing the series 3-2. This really wasn't a surprise to anyone here, as all of us in Cincinnati know we have a better chance of being struck by lightening than we do of ever again seeing a Cincinnati team win a championship.

So now that I've been reminded once again that Cincinnati + sports = misery for fans, I'm hoping to get back to focusing on writing for the weekend. I need to do something to get the bitter taste of this latest local sports fiasco out of my mouth.

I hope everyone has had a good week, and has a great weekend ahead! :)