Life Writing

Morning pages, cursive and chess

Keeping a diary can be laborious.

Way back when, I would shake my head at my fellow athletes who would record every training session as well morning heart rate and the like in training diary. What are you really going to do with that information I would sometimes ask, and always think. The same with heart rate and power wattage downloads; do you print it out and stick it on your kitchen/bedroom wall?

I tried keeping a training log for about two years but it fast became a chore, so this experiment ceased in mid-June (or was it May?) of 2015.

Needless to say I tried and it really didn't bring much value to my life.

Scott Tinely once proclaimed that he did more than enough in a day that writing about it seemed like a senseless undertaking. Ironic given the articulate Californian's current career as a prolific writer and university literature teacher! In fact, reading any of ST's work can leave one with an impression of a serious and deep-thinking bloke, which is directly at odds with the seemingly laid-back surfer persona of his athletic peak. There might even be a lot of personal journals in his vault, although not of the training log variety I suspect.

But writing about training is one thing; keeping track of daily life is another. And here's the thing; as I've gradually developed my own side-industry and writing base, I find myself noting down my thoughts, observations and aspirations several times daily. Not in a rigid or regimented fashion by any means, but by stacks of notebooks and scraps of paper are abundant with notes on everything from personal finance to athlete profiles and work proposals. Much of it is my personal cursive (read: scrawl) although a fair amount is typed in my email draft folder in the form of a personal blog that goes unpublished. I do keep a diary, but more for tracking appointments, coupled with a brief morning and/or afternoon/evening paragraph outlining my thoughts and daily happenings.

All of these notes add up to to quite a database, if that is a the correct term, which is of definite benefit to my published work. As I've developed this blog, my content moves between long form essays and profiles, and briefer posts or snapshots. A combination of Tim Ferris and Gordo Byrn if you like, two prolific bloggers with opposing views on word counts and essay length.

While ideas for these posts often come from conversations, experiences or media observations, many are borne out of a diary entry months before. Authenticity is important to me and I certainly don't want to be a copycat; this is where my thoughts on paper come in handy. Sometimes I use them, although I often begin writing a blog post with the a specific subject in mind only to end up writing about something else. Digression par excellence and permanence!

Then there are times when I wake up in the middle of the night with a thought and write it down, or instances of a boring management meeting where a few points noted down on paper on my mind drifting instead of actual meeting minutes. Former pro cyclist Allan Peiper recounted how he would often wake in the early hours to rewrite a chapter of his underrated autobiography, only to change it a few days later after much thought and intuition. While his motivation to pen his memoirs was more to cleanse his soul as it was to make a profit, Peiper's devotion to his literary practice was as dedicated as his lifelong morning meditation and fitness regimen.

I'm convinced there is a connection between the academic and physical, sort of yin and yang interdependence. Personally, I've tended to find a need to have both forms of stimulation in order to achieve life balance. Way back when, I "retired" from my mundane government job and went to go and work for a friend's landscaping business. Quite a drastic change but the manual labour was exactly what I needed at that time in my life, especially after a few years sitting behind a stereoplotter in a dark and dull office State office. Yet during this time of digging trenches and driving the length and breadth of the Cape Peninsula to work sites, I maintained some nominal mapping contract work for a local geologist on the weekends. Not too intense but enough to keep the mind occupied - this quiet focus was a great complement to moving rocks in the rain and weeding to the sound of Good Hope FM (democratic radio choice, like KFM was at the old "kantoor").

More recently, friends and clients commented on seeing me writing at this year's ABSA Cape Epic during rare breaks in soigneur duties. What are you writing the would ask at the sight of my sitting on a chair using my plinth as a table. Notes and observations I would say, the sum of which included profiles, biographies, anecdotes, products and training habits. While some gems came out of that notebook in late March, the majority went (and stays) unpublished.

These days, daily writing has become an increasing part of my lifestyle. This notion was further validated upon my reading Julia Cameron's excellent The Artist's Way. A self-help guide to improved creativity, Cameron extols the benefit of what she calls "Morning Pages," effectively brainstorming on paper every morning upon rising. She recommends three foolscap pages of handwritten notes, effectively a record of one's thoughts and feelings at the beginning of each day.

A great recommendation and one which I've embrace and modified to suit my own lifestyle. Writing early in the morning is not always practical for me, hence my preferred "Daily Pages," compiled during the course of each day. Sometimes reflective, often forward looking, yet always invaluable; this is perhaps the best description of my own diary of life.

Does writing make me a better athlete? I'm not so sure but I personally cannot imagine a life without some form mindful stimulation. A friend and fellow competitive runner is also a highly regarded chess player. The guy is over 50, still runs sub-2h50 marathons and divides the winter season between cross-country and chess leagues!

His reasoning?

"I've always played chess, but love running."