by Greg Meyer
January 29, 2016
I hate running. I always have, ever since my gym teacher first told my class to take a few laps around the gym. Running, especially in gym class, is frustrating. My feet hit the painful hardwood floor repeatedly as I pass the same boring scenery again and again like I’m in a Hanna-Barbera cartoon. There’s no talking to my friends, or my gym teacher goes into Drill Sargent mode and orders more laps for his own amusement. Plus, he adds verbal jabs here and there, telling me he could “walk faster than I could run.” Did I mention I don’t like gym teachers? Well, he was the reason. Thanks, buddy.
I’m a slow person. I always have been. I get lost in my thoughts and imagination during the day, and it affects everything I do. It’s something I’ve come to expect from myself. Everyone else is faster than I am at almost every task, and it’s especially true about running. While others run to finish as quickly as they can, I’m thinking about stories and adventures that haven’t been put to paper. While I’m okay with that, it can be a bit frustrating that I’m always behind everyone else.
I’ve been going to the gym at my work during my lunch breaks as of late. It’s not something I want to do, but I have to do it. I spend most of my day sitting behind a desk, drive an hour to and from work, and then get home and write or relax on the couch at night. That’s a lot of sitting, and while my health is okay at the moment, I’d rather not take my chances later in life.
Now, the gym has these newfangled machines that keep your feet on little platforms that allow you to run without hurting the bottom of your feet. That’s perfect for me, as that’s the main reason I despise running. Yet every time I go into the gym, I have this sour attitude that remembers all of the horrible experiences I had in gym class growing up. The tools at my disposal might be better, but I still can’t shake the anger I have from my past.
Then there’s the time I spend running. As soon as I step on the elliptical machine, enter in my program, and begin my twenty-minute routine, time slows down like magic. I’ll be sure that I’ve been running for a good fifteen minutes, look down at the counter, and see I’m only seven minutes into my time of punishment. It’s fun!
What’s also frustrating is that I can’t do anything else while running. I’ve tried reading, but even with my Kindle I find reading a challenge as my head bobs up and down with the machine. Plus there are TVs everywhere showing SportsCenter or the latest depressing news of the day. I now run with my glasses off so they don’t distract me anymore and I can just focus on my thoughts. All I have is my iPhone, where I crank up my Christian Metal playlist and let Extol or Impending Doom do my screaming for me.
Even though I’m frustrated as I run, I know I’m doing my body a favor. I’m burning through the snack food I munch on at my cubicle, and work off the time I spend sitting all day. It’s an exhausting process, but in the end I know I’m all the better for it.
I finished writing The Seekers and The Hidden, the latest Bron novel, in July last year. It took over a year to write, and I felt accomplished reaching the end, as this is my very first novel. Like running, I write slowly, and it’s just something I’ve come to accept and take into account when planning my schedule. When I wrote the words “The End” at the end of the story and submitted it to my fellow Children of the Wells writers, I thought I was near the end of my writing journey for this project. I took some time off from the story to let the others look over my work and refresh my mind. Soon the story would get published and I could move on to my next story.
What I didn’t expect was how long the editing process would take. This is more my own fault for not comprehending the whole process of writing a book. While writing your first draft is a big accomplishment, it’s just the tip of the iceberg when creating a story. Since before this I just wrote short stories and blogs, I figured editing would be a piece of cake, not expecting this cake to be a seven-layer cake with layers upon layers of delicious editing. I started editing in September, never thinking I’d be headed into February and still be editing this story.
I won’t lie, I found it a bit disheartening. Finishing The Seekers gave me a renewed excitement for writing, but month after month of editing slowly killed that excitement with a sledgehammer. I had incomplete sentences, unfinished thoughts, forgotten story threads, story plots that contradicted our world bible, and scenes I needed to cut or add into the story. The other writers pruned my work, giving me suggestions on how to fix my novel, and while I appreciated the feedback, the impatient part of me wanted to just publish the story and get it over with.
Yet just like with running, all of this editing is only going to make The Seekers and The Hidden better. As much as I would’ve liked to just send my story off to be published, I know I’d be horrified if I took a long look at what I had originally done without any feedback. Shigeru Miyamoto, legendary game creator from Nintendo, was once asked why Nintendo tends to give games like The Legend of Zelda series long delays. He replied that, “A delayed game is eventually good, but a rushed game is forever bad.” While gamers hate hearing that the game they’ve been waiting for has been delayed, in the end it’s to make the game something special to play.
It reminds me of what Paul says in 1 Corinthians 9:24 about running the race as to get the prize. It’s not enough to run, but to run with purpose and with the end in sight. If I am to be a writer, I can’t just be satisfied with an error-filled first draft and be happy with it. I must strive to edit and edit until I polish out the inconsistencies and mistakes. I have others that are counting on me to do my very best with The Seekers and The Hidden. I can’t settle for anything less than something I can be proud of publishing in my name.
The Seekers and The Hidden is coming. I can’t wait for all of you to read it. But please understand it’s going to take a little bit longer to finish ironing out all of the wrinkles. I’m excited for all of you to read it, and thank you for your patience. It’ll be worth the wait.
Unless you hate it, to which I say my story is just too deep for you to comprehend. Burn.
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