Question posted by jiminicritic: Keeping physically fit is obviously important, but at what point does it interfere with one's writing? How do you stop from overdoing it?
Answer: This will depend on the individual, like many other things in life. Honestly, it can interfere with writing in that one can't always do everything at the same time. When it comes to getting things done, some will get priority over others. At times, writing had more of a priority. I will admit that the year of focusing on weight loss and starting to lift did meant that I wrote much less. For NaNoWriMo 2015, I only got about 30,000 words. I finished the first draft recently, which is a plus considering sometimes it takes me years to finally get the draft done even if I hit the magic 50k number during NaNo. Plus, the novel was YA contemporary so the first draft wasn't going to get to any crazy numbers, unlike the fantasy one I have.
As for what point is it an interference? That I can't pinpoint. One of the good parts of being unpublished is it's not like I'm missing deadlines or anything. And to be honest, I feel in some ways the thing that interferes both my writing and fitness goals both is the thing I have to do: work. Having to make money to pay bills unfortunately takes priority over writing and lifting because those can't quite help with rent or student loans at this point in time.
Overdoing it can be a challenge for some people in any given venue. For me it's often a one thing gets big focus and others lay awaiting for a little then the tides shift. It's the same with novels. NaNoWriMo gives me a chance to focus on one single novel (or two) for a month and that is a big main focus in November, so a couple of other things go to the side. It can feel like overdoing it when doing things like writing over 100,000 in a month but then things shift again. Fitness was a big focus and I still have my cycles where it's more of a forefront and other times where it's on the side.
Though have to be careful not to go overdo it to the point of injury. Have to be cautious when doing things like training for powerlifting. I've done it mostly when trying to lose weight, which means a calorie deficit and that can sap some of the energy as food does equal energy.
Question posted by Octobersun: How do you motivate yourself to train regularly?
Answer: The main method of staying motivated to train on a regular basis was that I found something I enjoyed. If I tried to force myself to do something I'm not as fond of, like say I decided to do spinning as I didn't enjoy that when I tried it, then I'd struggle to keep going. Even with running where it's a challenge and not what I thought I'd like, it gives me the chance to create music playlists and was a good time for thinking of novels and other things. Weightlifting, I had enjoyed in the past. My first time was with bench press and a few machines back in high school when I competed in track where I was doing throwing, which involved lifting as part of the training. While I hadn't done deadlifts, it was interesting to try the other lifts and I quickly found I liked the challenge. And it gave me something to focus on besides the scale while trying to lose weight. Plus, I also have goals which helps with the focus. Getting ready for a meet or a long distance run, that helps push me to keep going even on the days when I might want to just stay home.
Question by Ruwth: How has your weightlifting experience impacted your writing?
Answer: I don't think that weightlifting has impacted my writing much except maybe it distracted me from writing. Now, when I'm not at work, a few hours a week are spent in the gym instead of at the computer. Health wise, it's probably for the better though. However, it does help at time with ideas and doing physical activities can help when writing more action type elements in a story. Granted I can't do magic or anything but I know how some things feel and can expand from there when I'm writing what a character is going through in certain scenes. I also have a romance story that is between a long distance runner and a body builder, which is inspired a little by the anti-cardio weightlifters and the runners who don't do weight training. So, it has both helped and hindered my writing a little but for the most part is a separate entity in my life.
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