Writing in the dark, running in the rain

I try to regularly have both reading and writing goals. Reading new scholarship often pushes me to write and to think about ideas in a new way. Since Friday, I've had a relatively new (2012) dissertation on Mary I've been meaning to read by Clare Marie Snow, "Maria Mediatrix: Mediating the Divine in the Devotional Literature of Late Medieval and Early Modern England." Today was finally the day where I sat down to read it. Did I get through all of it? No. But a few compelling sections helped me meet my goal of writing at least 300 words for today. Some days, a page is all that I can do, and if I wrote a page a day, I'd have a full draft in a year. And there are days when I can knock out a few pages, and those days feel great, particularly on the heels of unproductive days where the cursor blinked, taunting me.
There are so many authors who encourage others to get into the daily writing habit, even comparing it into the habit of running regularly.















And then this one appears often on New Year's Eve


I also got my daily run in today, running in the pouring rain.  When I say pouring, there were numerous puddles that were beyond ankle deep. I came back after 5 miles, a good distance for the middle of the, soaked but invigorated. Where I run, there are dozens of runners and cyclists usually out there, no matter what time of day. In the 45 minutes of running, I saw 3 people out there. Yes, it was the day before Christmas Eve, but it was clear that the torrential downpour was a deterrent to others. But I could play in the rain, jump in the puddles (once you're wet, you're wet!), and not take myself too seriously.
Running in the rain or any sort of bad weather isn't always ideal, and neither is writing. There are times when you don't want to do it, don't want to get up early and head out to hit either the keys or the road. But strength only comes from leaning into the wind, the rain, the fear, and not just settling for the easy days.

End of the day word count: 350