The Marathon
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I use to run long distance. I found little physical joy in it. I ran because it was hard and I wanted to push myself. The most useful thing that I took from the experience was the discovery that if you just don’t stop, you can finish almost any distance.
There comes a time in any creative project where the rush of excitement and joy of making something new is gone and the work stretches out towards the horizon. It’s tempting to step away for a bit, do something different, start something new. Don’t. Put your head down. Grind out the miles.
In his excellent book On Writing, Stephen King calls this part of the craft “mowing the grass.” I love that description, it goes through my mind every time I look at a stack of blank pages and don’t want to start. So much of creative work is just doing work. It’s not fun.
The only way to build endurance and deepen your craft is by following through even when it’s painful. The more ground you cover now, the more you can cover in the future.
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My current marathon is an exploration of Oregon in drawings.
Find out more at Salt Fire Fall Dust.
