Skip to main content

Writing Marathon

What is a writing marathon? Simply put, it's a day of writing. The brilliant Natalie Goldberg created the idea of the writing marathon and it's in her book, Writing Down the Bones

Marathon is defined as a long-lasting or difficult task or operation of a specified kind. We define writing marathon as finding a new location, meeting up, getting into groups, and walking around and writing all day long. We end our marathons with an invitational read around.

Our place today was Fredericksburg, VA. It's about seventy miles away from where I live, so I've never been there. I am definitely going back though! I loved it! We met up at 9:30 this morning and got ourselves set for the day. 


I spent the day with Matt and Jen...two wonderful writers! We started near the river. 



We sat on some rocks and wrote. I am pushing myself to try fiction, so that's what I did. This morning I read a blog post, from my blogging friend Linda, about shoes...so I focused on my shoes. Here it is: (sorry about the messy handwriting)


As we finished, we got up and walked some more. Jen went to college here, so she knows all the great places. Our next stop was Goolricks Modern Pharmacy. 




The woman working at the counter got a kick out of us. I was so excited to be at a real pharmacy counter again...it reminded me of Sims, in Springfield, MA. I ordered a vanilla coke and the taste immediately brought me back to my childhood. Some more writing got done here too.


We walked to an antique store, a restaurant, and finally to the college for our sharing.  



Our walking included telling each other our stories. Our writing was private and personal. I gave up on fiction pretty quickly and wrote snippets and noticings from my surroundings.
 

When the scenery around me changes, I feel changed. When I'm with others who love writing and commit to it, I'm changed. Today was a good day. I'm tired. I've written. I'm changed. I look forward to see where these changes lead...

Comments

  1. I love writing marathons! You captured this one so nicely! I wonder if we could do a Voxer writing marathon? LOL!! I will try anything once!!!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Your fiction piece was awesome. So funny...

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Please share your thoughts. I love comments!

Popular posts from this blog

Chasing My Dream

I'm doing it. I'm chasing my dream. I've always wanted to run writing retreats and workshops for people, but I've always been too scared to do anything about it...until now. I don't know what's changed...maybe I've changed. I'm not allowing the fear to stop me anymore. I've started Selah Writing Retreats.  The past couple of weeks I've been getting the business end in order. I thought I would hate that...I don't. It's scary, but I am surprising myself with how efficient I am. Yesterday I went to a bank to set up a bank account. The woman I met with was kind and helpful and so enthusiastic about my dream. My website is set up. I've done lots of work on it. I hope you stop by and let me know what you think. It's  selahwritingretreats.com . Balancing creative with business has been challenging but fun. Creating the website, getting a federal tax id, making business cards, planning dates... My favorite voxer group is called Butt Ki...

Someday...

Thank you to Stacey, Betsy, Dana, Tara, Beth, Anna, Kathleen & Deb for this amazing platform to write and share writing! What a wonderful community you've created! I'm honored to be part of it. Join us at Two Writing Teachers . Do you have dreams? Kids are good at dreaming. I find many adults struggle with it. Speaking for myself, I get so caught up in the everyday drudgery of life, that dreams get nudged aside until they disappear.  It's important to have dreams. I've been writing about my dreams in my notebook and so I thought I'd share my dreams here... 1. Writing a book.  While I'd love to get a book published, my dream is to write a book...to complete the act of writing it.  I've started on this dream and it's hard and challenging and exciting and amazing.  2. Living at the beach.    I love the water, the waves, the ocean smell, the seafood, the sand...all of it! The Outer Banks is my favorite place in the...

Whatever Happened To...

Sharing this post on Two Writing Teachers Slice of Life Do you ever wonder whatever happened to your students after the year you spend together? I imagine how my students are finding life...are they happy? Successful? Do they still read? Write? What is going on with them?   I taught fifth grade for eight years. Fifth grade was such a fun year to teach because the students were still young enough that school was something they loved and old enough that they could show some real signs of independence. Fifth grade is the oldest grade in our elementary schools, so the students enjoyed their final year before moving onto middle school and the challenges that came with that new adventure.  2007 was a tough year for me personally. My dad collapsed in September of that year and then died in March of that same school year. He lived thousands of miles away, so my mind was definitely unfocused that year...but that year, Catie was in my class.  Catie was a quiet stude...