Tuesday, July 31, 2012

Write Until You Drop

The more exertion an activity uses, the faster you run out of gas. I can sustain a full sprint not very long, but I can walk forever. Actually, I can't walk forever, but it seems like it.

I remember my last long walk. I was stuck on a plot point and said that I would not go home until I figured it out. That ended up taking quite a bit of time and quite a bit of walking. After I figured out the plot point, I then had to walk home. And with the thinking work over, I ended up analyzing everything going on.

What I noticed was that when I started walking, I had a pace faster than most people, and by the end, I was basically staggering. Though I never stopped walking, the quality of my walk did degrade. I didn't end up walking until I dropped. If it wasn't a life-or-death situation, I don't know if I could push myself to actually walk that much just to see me do it.

That thought leads me to writing, which although it is far less physically taxing, it takes a lot of mental energy. I wonder if it is possible to write until you drop. Could you just keep writing, not letting yourself stop, until your body (or maybe your mind) runs out of fuel and just stops running? I honestly don't know, but it would be an interesting experiment.

No comments:

Post a Comment