My run today was ugly.
It wasn’t comfortable. It wasn’t pleasant. My stride pattern changed so much that it was only matched by the number of times I wanted to stop.
But I’m learning to be stubborn.
I’m learning to push back against all of the reasons to stop. I pick a time, or distance, to get to before I do quit. Normally I can push that out a few times before I decide I’ve done enough or make the decision to stop.
And I realised that sometimes I just need to write ugly to.
I need to push back against not being sure about what I am writing. Push back against not writing at all because I don’t ‘feel’ it. Push back against quitting early.
I have started to write in a short burst – anything from one to five minutes – each day. I write on my phone and it begins with the first words which come into my head. It isn’t linked to anything else I am writing.
Some of it is really ugly.
But some of it definitely has the promise of a longer run, when the stride pattern is fluid and the distance comes easy.
I am also not going to worry if my longer projects have some patches of ugly in them either. At least I’ve written.
Why not join me – Write Ugly! It could be a new literary movement!
