Trading Diamonds for Stones

A few years ago, when I was stuck in an office job I didn’t like, I found myself staring out the window. It was a gorgeous, sunny day, and I felt like a panther inside a cage.

A colleague came up beside me. “Today is a diamond,” he said. “Workdays are stones. You and me, we’re trading diamonds for stones.”

It was a depressing thought, and I determined to get out of that job and change my life for the better. The trouble was, I didn’t know what I wanted to do.

A friend of mine came up with a good idea. He sat me down with a piece of paper and a pen, and told me to write down the best experiences of my life.

In no particular order, here’s what I wrote:

Sailing with my brother on Lake Kennisis in the summer of 1986, when a hurricane blew in and we nearly shipwrecked.
Tobogganing in Edmonton, with my nieces and nephews, IN MINUS 50 DEGREE WEATHER!
Running my first 100 mile race.
Sitting on the dock with my mom one summer night, while the Northern Lights tarted up the skies.
Skiing down Whistler Mountain with my visually-impaired friend.
Hiking through a forest with Shawna and running into that big-ass BEAR.
Canoe tripping with my dad, in lakes so clean you could drink straight out of them.
Getting the phone call from my agent that my novel had sold.

I handed the list to my friend. His face lit up instantly. “Good job,” he said. “Now what do all of those things share in common?”

It took me a while to figure it out. But eventually I saw the common thread. All of those events, with the exception of that last one, took place OUT OF DOORS. It sounds obvious, but it was an incredible revelation to me at the time. If I really wanted to be happy in the future, I needed to find a way of getting outside more often. And ideally, I’d do it with the people I love.

Years have passed since then, and while I still have a job that keeps me chained to a desk a lot of the time, it’s extremely creative, and I’m surrounded by zillions of smart, spunky people.

More importantly, I know what I need to do to keep myself sane. A week spent behind a computer screen can gut me like a fish, but an hour on the running trail puts me right.

So if you feel as though you’re trading diamonds for stones, don’t worry. Most of us have to spend some time in the mine-shaft before we achieve the career we want and deserve. The trick is to figure out how to get more sunlight into our lives in the meantime. Figure that out, and the bars of your cage may well evaporate.

I Love This Video and I Don’t Know Why!

What is going on in this video???

Where did all those dogs come from? Why is the little girl not afraid of them? Did she raise them from the time they were puppies? Is she some kind of dog whisperer?

Why is the girl so happy? Is she maybe a dog herself? Did she make a wish on a magic bone and transform into a human?

Why is she throwing those things in the air? What are those things? They look like blades of grass, but I actually think they’re cheese strings.

Why are the dogs all German Shepherds? Why are there twelve of them? Jesus had twelve disciples; is there some significance about the number?

Could the dogs actually be wizards from the future? Maybe they wanted to deliver a message to the little girl: “Don’t eat too many cheese strings, they’ll make you fat.”

If I had some spare time, I’d write a short story about this video. I’d call it “Cheese String Girl and the Dogs from the Future.” Millions of people would read it, and Disney would make a movie of it, and everyone’s questions about this weird video would be answered. And after the movie was made, you would be asked to keep the twelve German Shepherds. And you’d take good care of them and let them run free in a grassy meadow, and from time to time you’d frolic with them, and feed them cheese strings, and laugh endlessly.

Why Do I Run? Why Do I Write?

Why do I run?

Because running is my church.

Because running helps me figure out what I think about the world.

Because I love buying running shoes.

Because I like being alone sometimes.

Because running helps me sleep well.

Because I run past interesting things. Bears, beaver dams, hidden valleys.

Why do I write?

Because writing is my church.

Because writing helps me figure out what I think about the world.

Because I love buying new journals.

Because I like being alone sometimes.

Because writing helps me sleep well.

Because I get to write about interesting things. Talking bears, floating islands, secret valleys where time stands still.

BONUS REASON I like to run: I don’t need to worry about eating second helpings of dessert!

HAT TIP: above two photos taken by my talented brother, Andy.

Why Running = Writing

So I wrote this YA novel called ULTRA. It’s about a 12 year-old boy who runs a 100-mile footrace in order to escape a terrible family secret.

Here’s the book in one sentence: “Why face your troubles when you can outrun them?”

Hoo boy! Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? You bet!

Anyway, while writing that book (to be published by Scholastic in September, 2013), I learned that the act of writing a novel and that of running 100 miles are similar in a lot of ways. For instance:

1) Runners don’t need much gear to do their thing. Just a pair of running shoes, a tee-shirt and shorts. Writers don’t need much either. A pen and some paper, a tee-shirt and shorts.

2) In running, there is a starting line, and then, some distance away, a finish line. In writing, there is a blank page, and then, some distance away, a published story.

3) Runners suffer from shinsplints, cramps and blistered toes. Writers suffer from writer’s block, writer’s cramp and blistered fingers.

4) Runners start out strong, and get weaker as they age. Writers are exactly the same, only in reverse.

But do you want to know the most important similarity? In both writing and running, the key to success is PRACTISE. Log enough miles, and you’ll eventually run faster. Fill enough pages, and you’ll eventually write better.

Just keep at it. Write, run, REPEAT.