The Runner and The Writer

I’m a runner and I’m a writer. The two go hand in hand. If I’m not running, my writing suffers and when I don’t feel like writing, I’m usually the laziest beast on the planet, curled up on the sofa flinging colorful birds at little green pigs with smug smiles.

It is a beautiful balance of physical and mental: both activities cathartic, renewing, and freeing. When I’m writing I’m hunched over a laptop balanced on my lap while doing my best to find a comfortable position in my chair without disturbing the cat. Not ergonomically correct by any means. After a good session at the computer, like yesterday when I added 3100 words to a chapter of Summer Lust (because a book with “lust” in the title needs more smut), I stood to stretch and that wasn’t enough.

I’ve run in everything but a blizzard. I love a rainy August afternoon, and a cool, crisp spring morning. I’m not fond of thirty degrees, but I’ve done it, with Bag Balm on my lips to keep them from chapping, and ugly, torn sweats over my running tights to keep my thighs from freezing. Yesterday wasn’t cold. Yesterday, in shorts, a tank top, and an old Patriots cap, I hit the road. It wasn’t the best run training wise – in fact, it was downright awful – but it did accomplish one goal, and that was to get the body moving, the blood flowing, and the brain back into a creative gear. I had fried the Muse with that new scene, and I needed her recharged to better vilify the ex-boyfriend in today’s edits. I returned home sweaty and with a loose synopsis of a sequel crashing around in my head.

And that, dear Readers, is the beauty of combining running and writing. When I’m on the road, my thoughts are focused on stride, pacing, breathing, and cars zipping by at fifteen miles over the speed limit and uncomfortably close to that thin white line at my right. While I’m distracted by all of those things, my subconscious is busy coming up with new ways to distract me once I’m seated in front of the computer again.

Hey, Conscious Mind, what if we introduce a little chemical influence to the next story?
Hey, Conscious Mind, what if we redeem the Evil Bad Guy?

Meanwhile, Conscious Mind hadn’t really intended to write a sequel, but it’s happy to start writing again, letting the creativity flow, and molding it to the needs at hand, which happen to be the original story, now more vibrant and alive with thoughts of the future for the men involved. Without realizing it yesterday, during that run I dove a little deeper into the reason Cody tolerates Alan in his life during the span of Summer Lust, and now I’m ready to make the scene with the two of them together darker, stronger, and more eye-opening than before.

Of course, after spending time writing this blog post, I may just sneak out for a mile or two first.

As for Summer Lust, I do not have an official release date yet. I like my teasing early and often, but I promise to announce more details once I’ve been granted the go ahead to do so.

Happy Beltane, dear Readers!

Ciao,
Pia Veleno