invisible words

"The pages are still blank, but there is a miraculous feeling of the words being there, written in invisible ink and clamoring to become visible." Vladimir Nabokov (1899-1977)

There's a humility in this view point. And it seem to me to be the true one: the view of writer as the servant of the story--whose job is to discover as much as create. To listen and transcribe. The writer basically as scribe. 

It's about the story, not about you the writer.

Do you ever have the feeling that if you don't show up and get those words visible--QUICK--they might just give up on you and go somewhere else to someone who will?

That's motivation to keep showing up. Being available, there, to listen to whatever's happening that day. To whatever your characters are talking about. 

As one editor told me once "Put your characters in a room and listen to what they say."

It's like a show going on in your computer every day. Why would you want to miss that? 

happy ny marathon!

hope all those runners remembered to fall back this morning...

Interesting Marathon Factoid: 

At the 1908 Olympic Games in London, the marathon distance was changed from 25 to 26 miles to cover the ground from Windsor Castle to White City stadium, with 385 yards added on so the race could finish in front of King Edward VII's royal box. 

After 16 years of extremely heated discussion, this 26.2 mile distance was established at the 1924 Olympics in Paris as the official marathon distance. -Paul Ostapuk

Makes you proud to be British...

running and writing: dogs, fights and long distance

Today is the 113th Boston Marathon. (photo is the earliest known photo of the Boston Marathon, 1904)
Running a marathon is a lot about not giving up, putting one foot in front of the other, listening to what you're telling yourself, keeping going, keeping going long after you think your body is out of gas ("the wall"), keeping going even when your quads are screaming at you to walk, and your brain is bargaining with you (those people over there are walking why can't you?, no one is making you do this race, just walk for goodness sake and be done with it). It's about holding your focus, taking the next step and finishing the race.

Writing is like that too. It too is a lot about not giving up, putting down the next paragraph (or sentence, or word), listening to what you're telling yourself, keeping going, keeping going long after you think you're out of ideas, keeping going even when the committee in your head is screaming at you to stop, telling you it's not good or funny or interesting or anything and would you just put down your pen already. It's about holding your focus, writing the next thing and finishing the race.

The best races are the ones you thought you could never finish. And the best ideas often take the longest to discover. (At least that's my story and I'm sticking to it.) Perhaps Bill Bowerman (1911-1999), legendary track and field coach and Nike Co-Founder, said it best:— “Sometimes what matters is not what dog is in the fight but how much fight is in the dog.”

happy nyc marathon day!

Joan Benoit Samuelson, the matriarch of American distance running, winner of the first Olympic marathon for women in 1984 and pioneer in bringing acceptance to women’s distance running said: “Marathoning is a metaphor for life, so there are a lot of parallels you can draw. I tell people to follow your dream, follow your heart, follow your passion, run your own race and believe in yourself. I think anybody who wants to succeed has to have passion.” above: exhaustion gives way to elation as runners round the bottom of the park and head towards the finish check out the course and run it in three and a half minutes flat here.

running fast

"God made me fast. And when I run, I feel His pleasure."
— Eric Liddell (1902-1945)

Gold medal winner in the 400-metre run and a bronze in the 200 metres at the 1924 Olympic Games in Paris and missionary to China and one of my heroes. (A very favorite quote from a very favorite hero in a very favorite movie, Chariots of Fire.)

In fact, since it's the Olympics, NYT's A O Scott just did a video review of the film and it's his critic's choice. To see the clip, click here.

only one way to go: up

Since the Olympics start today... 08/08/08... More on hills and running (and a bit about writing) and what great training they are—The New York Times did a fascinating article on one in particular. Such a hill is it, that the Olympians of all sports train on it. See that thing reaching up in the distance? That's just the halfway mark.

“It’s the one workout where people truly have to face something that is unbeatable,” the speedskater Apolo Ohno said. “It is you against yourself.”

Sounds a bit like writing, to me. Half the battle, as far as I can tell, is getting yourself out of the way to let the story through.

Read more: here.

running and writing: hills

Photo shows Cat Hill. A portion of the park (Central Park) that slopes up hill nastily and half way up there is this glorious cat sculpture looking down at you, ready to pounce on you like you're a mouse. Unfortunately I only ever see this cat when I'm sweating, gasping for air and feel like I might die. (Actually, exactly how a mouse must feel.) They (The Running Experts) say, "Hills are speed work in disguise." And, fortunately—or unfortunately—depending on how you look at it, Central park is full of them (hills, that is—although definitely Running Experts, as well. I often see Bob Glover running in the park). So Cat Hill is speed work—even though you're going the slowest pace ever and it feels like the exact opposite—despite all appearances, you are in fact training to go faster. To run more efficiently. To be a better runner. You're sprinting. You just don't see it. Sometimes you're writing and it is all up hill. But lately I've been thinking. Maybe that's just part of your training regimen, how you're becoming a stronger writer. The hard days are training to go longer, further, faster. The challenges, the uphill days are not obstacles. They are spring boards. They are speed work in disguise. Because the thing that slows you down may just be what makes you faster.

The Spirit of the Marathon

Great trailer of the film that premiered Thursday and that's a glimpse into why some people love to do such strange crazy things as run 26.2 miles!

free gifts and gold medals

Australian sprinter, four times Olympic champion, Betty Cuthbert won more gold medals than any other Australian in Olympic history. Seen here in 1960. I just love her expression. It somehow seems the only appropriate one for going headlong into a new year with.

"My salvation was a free gift.
I didn't have to work for it
and it's better than any
gold medal that I've ever won."
— Betty Cuthbert (b. 1938)

new world record

Hale Gabreselassie, 34, of Ethiopia set a world record for the Berlin marathon Sunday, winning the race in 2 hours, 4 minutes, 26 seconds. He beat Kenya's Paul Tergat's record on the same course of 2:04:55.

Gebrselassie won four world titles over 10,000m and set numerous world records on the track before turning to road racing late in his career. (Yes, he's the one who ran the Nike Manhattan Half "with me" and broke the course record in August.)

“Don't be afraid to give up the good to go for the great.”
— Steve Prefontaine (1951-1975)

"All it takes is all you got."
— Marc Davis (b.1969)

NYC Nike Half Marathon

Look at that time! Ethiopia's Haile Gebrselassie — considered the world’s greatest long-distance runner — won Sunday's NYC Half-Marathon in 59 minutes and 24 seconds!

At 34, Gebrselassie ran the second-fastest half marathon on United States soil. And the second-fastest half-marathon of his career. He has succeeded in every distance from 5K to the marathon.

59 minutes and 24 seconds!

Hmm. Right about then I was just about to leave Central Park with another 6.5 miles to go...

But that's what I love about New York City — people like me get to run in the same race as Haile! Around 10,000 of us.

The other thing about the race that's so cool is the course. You get to run through the heart of the big apple. And the best bit — running down 7th Avenue, past Carnegie Hall, past Carnegie Deli, into an entirely blocked off Times Square where the only sounds you hear are singing, bands and great crowds of cheering spectators. Amazing.




To watch the race, click here.

look! first place!

The good news: I ran a 4-mile race in Staten Island and came first in my age group and got a trophy and everything!

The bad news: It was in the 65-69 year old age group.

(Check out the last line of the women first place finishers by age group.)

People are now looking at me in disbelief wondering exactly what cream I'm using to look so good at 67.

Not only that, but there's some poor 65+ year old out there who trained herself to death and now I've gone and robbed her trophy right from under her feet. I've also left all the other 65-69 year olds in despair with my incredible time (which while it may be trophy-winning if you're 67, is not quite so trophy-winning at my age).

All I can think is we had to write our ages on our entry forms and perhaps, when you're writing quickly and you have handwriting like a doctor, 67 and 27 (say) are easy to confuse...