Marathon Metaphors and Harry Potter

Recently, as I was catching up with a few blogs, I noticed a phrase that appeared repeatedly across the blogosphere: "It’s a marathon." The race was being compared, in several instances, to the task of writing a book. Apparently, as a society, we think that anything that takes determination, endurance, tenacity, and time, is similar to running a marathon. I found my own conclusion a bit amusing: Obviously, most authors don’t realize how easy running a marathon really is! Because, seriously? Finishing a book? Way, way harder.

Then I started contemplating what I thought could be a better metaphor for writing a book. What’s an athletic event that takes as much time, dedication, and belief in one’s self as writing a book? A hundred-miler? Not in my opinion. What about longer races in extreme conditions, like Badwater, or Marathon des Sables? Maybe. But anyway, I really think we need to cut the “it’s a marathon” cliché from our vernacular because it’s just not working for me anymore.

But, and I apologize for this very reachy transition, one of the writers employing this cliché was also one of my favorite bloggers, Nathan Bransford, writing about one of my very favorite authors, J.K. Rowling. Last week he had “Harry Potter Week” on his blog. (Reason #126 that I love Nathan: He shows proper adoration for the Harry Potter series.)

One of his posts was titled, “J.K. Rowling and the Art of Being a Clutch Writer.” (Reason #127: Nathan compares writing to running, even if he does say “it’s a marathon.” I love you, Nathan.) He ultimately says that J.K. is a clutch writer because she pushed on, beneath massive amounts of pressure, to continue delivering amazing books, and, finally, one of the most believable, satisfying, and well done conclusions to a series, in spite of gigantic expectations. Now that is clutch.

This all led me to realize something incredibly important, something I’d forgotten about in all my busyness and adventuring.

“Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” opens this Friday!

Do you think Harry is a forefoot-striker or a heel-striker?

True, not nearly as eventful as when the book came out, but since there are no more books in the series, I’ll take what I can get. And yes, it’s only part one, so we can drag the anticipation of the finale out just a bit longer to July. Sounds good to me!

Check out Nathan’s Harry Potter week posts:

Harry Potter Week: Who is Your Favorite Character?

Five Writing Tips from Reading J.K. Rowling's HARRY POTTER

Which Harry Potter Book is the Best?

J.K. Rowling and the Art of Being a Clutch Writer

This Week in Books: A collection of Harry Potter blog posts


And let the movie trailer get you psyched if you aren’t already.

Meanwhile, I’m going to try to get in touch with J.K. and challenge her to a marathon.

Discipline, Dreams and the Benefits of Failure

Perhaps, as faithful readers, you may recall a post from about this time last year—a post in which I declared my intent to write a book. First, I’d like to thank all of you for not asking how it’s going. Seriously.

Writing actually went reasonably well through the spring, although I would not say I was exactly flying through the pages. Then summer hit, and just when you’d think a teacher would have plenty of time for things like writing, it all seemed to disappear. (Time, that is.) Then, in August, my computer crashed, and all of my characters and plots and themes remained incarcerated inside a broken hard drive until just last week.

While they’re all celebrating the reappearance of their freedom in my new laptop, I have suddenly found myself without excuse for my continued shunning of their existence. There’s no reason not to keep writing now. Uh oh.

One of the things I have done during the last year, in an attempt to learn exactly how one does go about writing a novel, is to explore the world of author and writing blogs. I discovered that there are endless blogs out there about writing and publishing, and many of them are quite excellent. I adore reading these blogs! I have wondered in fact, if I don’t like reading about writing better than the actual act of writing itself.

One of the blogs I frequent is by author Alan Gratz, and I was recently quite taken with his post about “Goals, Discipline and Dr. Who.” Goals are something I can dwell on for endless hours, and discipline is a trait that I sorely lack but constantly strive to develop. (I know nothing at all about Dr. Who, but that turned out to be fairly inconsequential in terms of grasping the meat of the blog post.)

The biggest point I got from Alan’s post was something with which I closely identify. I have so many goals and plans for my life, that I have a hard time sticking to just a few and seeing them through. I am the queen of a million unfinished projects. Whether it’s knitting projects, new guitar songs, plans for the house, or the half-written writing pieces littering the folders on my computer, I think I have adult-onset ADD.

Alan shared his tips for narrowing his own goals, then having the discipline to stick with them. When he does school visits, he tells the kids to just “finish something.” And that, my friends, is exactly what I struggle with: finishing.

You may think this is silly. You may think I am this terribly disciplined ultrarunner. I’ll tell you a secret though: I am a lazy, undisciplined ultrarunner. I never run more than 65 miles a week, and I don’t even reach that distance for very many weeks in a row. I have no compunction about changing, or even cutting, a workout if need be. (I like to think of myself as “flexible,” but I'm pretty sure my high school guidance counselor termed it “undisciplined.”) Still, running is the one area where I feel relatively satisfied with the goals I set and achieve. It’s the rest of my life where I tend to run an inch deep and a mile wide.

Alan went on to share his actual goals for the next five years. I am not nearly so brave, but I will tell you that after reading his post, I do have big plans to finish something. I know that perhaps some things have to give, if I want to have real success at anything. The hard part will be deciding what exactly has to give, and then letting it go. (I’m thinking laundry and dishes should be first. I can totally let those go.)

It was shortly after these revelations that I came upon Andrew in our living room, watching a video online of an attractive woman with a British accent.

“Ooh,” my eyes widened, “J.K. Rowling!” I immediately snuggled in next to him on the sofa to watch.

She was giving the commencement address to the graduating class of 2008 at Harvard University. I wonder if it was perhaps my state-of-mind at that particular moment, but I felt quite certain that she was not, in fact, speaking to several hundred bright, well-educated 21-year-olds, but rather that she was looking out through the computer screen and speaking directly to me. From me, her words evoked both tears and laughter while I sat mesmerized, listening. And this seems to be typical of our relationship. She reaffirmed my faith in her total brilliance.

The title of her speech was “The Fringe Benefits of Failure, and the Importance of Imagination.” If you watch the video below (which I strongly encourage you to do—it’s 20 minutes, but so worth your time!) you’ll see exactly how her words relate to my own thoughts here. In case you don’t have time to watch it, here is a quote from her speech that discusses one of its two central themes:


"So why do I talk about the benefits of failure? Simply because failure meant a stripping away of the inessential. I stopped pretending to myself that I was anything other than what I was, and began to direct all my energy into finishing the only work that mattered to me. Had I really succeeded at anything else, I might never have found the determination to succeed in the one arena I believed I truly belonged. I was set free, because my greatest fear had already been realized, and I was still alive, and I still had a daughter whom I adored, and I had an old typewriter and a big idea. And so rock bottom became the solid foundation on which I rebuilt my life.

You might never fail on the scale I did, but some failure in life is inevitable. It is impossible to live without failing at something, unless you live so cautiously that you might as well not have lived at all – in which case, you fail by default."


Jo Rowling found the discipline to focus on her life’s work after everything else had been stripped away. It gave her the clarity to see who she truly was.

I certainly hope that I will not have to experience her level of failure in order to achieve my goals in life, although, I don’t actually aspire to achieve her level of success either. I have to agree though, that living too cautiously is failure by default.

J.K. Rowling Speaks at Harvard Commencement from Harvard Magazine on Vimeo.

When I sat down last week, for the first time in six months, to read through the progress of my novel to date, I experienced a small surprise: It wasn't the complete and utter tripe I had recalled it to be! Of course, it was far from good, and I am still at the beginning, but there's potential there. Actual potential.

I am truly struggling with the idea of letting some dreams go so that I can focus on, and perhaps achieve, others--how to stop pretending to myself that I am something other than what I truly am. We'll see how this all plays out.


What about you? Do you have a few, focused goals, or a wide array? How do you discipline yourself to achieve the ones that are most important?

Back to School, Ring the Bell

If you read my post about the end of the school year last spring, you’ll know how much I loved teaching middle school English, and what an awesome group of eighth-graders I had. You might be surprised then, to learn that I am teaching fifth and sixth grades at an entirely new school this year.

The last day of school, May '09

I didn’t want to interview at other schools back in May, but it was basically a financial necessity. I loved my job and my school, but because of the complicated structure of this particular charter school, I was only earning part-time wages. We just couldn’t afford that luxury any longer. So it was without any real desire for the job, that I went to my first interview at my new school.

When I arrived, I had to admit, it seemed like a nice little school. It is a K-8 campus, which has a much different feel than the 6-12 schools where I’d spent my entire teaching career to date. When I saw my classroom for the first time, I noticed that the six student computers had names instead of numbers—names like Gryffindor, Ravenclaw and George Weasley. I began to think that perhaps I was in the right place, after all. (I was a little disappointed that the computer at my desk was not, in fact, named Albus Dumbledore, but I’m still hoping to rectify that situation.)

At teacher orientation, I learned that I was to lead a week-long field trip in Yosemite Valley with my kids. We’ll be at the Yosemite Institute doing field studies in one of the most beautiful places on earth. I couldn’t possibly have picked anything I’d rather do with my students. It seemed more and more that I was going to fit right in at this school.

After two full months with my 13 students, I know I’m in the right place. It’s a younger set, to be sure, and there are some things I miss about working with the older kids. I’ve had to shelve my tendencies toward teasing, and adjust some of my academic expectations. On the other hand, I can act like a total goofball and instead of being met with a room full of looks that say Ms.-Brugman-you-are-so-weird, I get an eruption of giggles. (Of course, it can also be challenging to reign them back in from giggles to academics, so I have to watch that one, too.)

And then there is the running. All the middle school teachers get to teach one elective on Friday afternoons, and the kids in grades 5-8 choose what they want to do. Guess what I’m teaching?

So every Friday at noon, I head out the back gate with 7 kids and we run to the park. As far as I can tell, this is running in its purest form. There’s no set workout, no competition. Our afternoon is summed up nicely by the suggestion of one student, as we entered the park on our first run.

“Let’s just explore!” she declared. And we did.

At first we explored the trails through the park. Now when we get there, we generally just run through the woods, across park benches, over picnic tables, past the horse stables, across the grass and then pause for a break at the playground equipment. Why can’t swinging and sliding be a part of running, right?

Our time essentially becomes just a giant game of follow-the-leader. You never know where the leader will take you, but it usually involves running along the top of a low retaining wall or something. It definitely, always, absolutely requires the group to divert its path to scuffle through every windswept pile of crunchy fall leaves.

We also move with a surprisingly natural cadence. The fastest runner is a 10-year-old girl. (At this age, gender is no dictator of speed.) She bounds along like Bambi, talking as fast as she runs. But she also has a natural instinct for when the group needs to slow down, and never minds walking so everyone can rest. We run. We walk. But always, it seems, there is something to explore.

It may not be much of an athletic workout for me, but it certainly feeds the soul. It reminds me that I run because I love it, and sometimes the best way to run is just to explore and play and not worry about where you’re going. To run without expectations. And these are the times that I wonder who is really the teacher and who is the student.

September '09 at the Project Discovery ropes courses

Harry Potter vs. TRT

Last week I realized I have a major conflict with my upcoming Tahoe Rim Trail 50 miler this Saturday. I mean seriously major. It’s not just that the final Harry Potter book will be sitting there waiting in my mailbox, unread, while I mindlessly find my way over 50 miles of trail at 8000 feet. It’s not just the fact that I will have to wait until at least Saturday night to begin discovering Harry’s fate: Will Voldemort kill him? Will Harry triumph? Will Dumbledore’s death be avenged? Will Dumbledore “pull a Galdalf” and manage to return to the plot? Will someone please (Hermione, a little help here!) kick Snape’s smug evil ass?? Will Draco turn to the good side? Will Harry and Ginny get back together? Will Hermione and Ron finally cut the act and smooch already? Oh God, I can’t stand it!!

The real problem is that I pre-ordered my book on Amazon. I paid extra for guaranteed Saturday delivery. (Tomorrow!) Living in a small town, I do not get mail delivered to my house. I think this is because the mail carrier does not want to drive down the crazy steep hill with the curve at the bottom in the icy winter conditions. Understandable, but doesn’t the postal system have some motto like “neither rain nor sleet nor snow shall keep us from delivering your mail?” Seriously, I need Harry! So the book will be put in my PO Box, except there isn’t enough room, so I will get a slip of paper that says I have a package and will have to go to the desk to get it, meaning the post office must be open. I will be running during the entire duration of Saturday’s postal hours. Ack! I cannot wait until Monday. What’s a girl to do?

My current plan entails sending Andrew to the post office instead of my race. Plan B is to stay up until midnight tonight and go to the book store downtown to buy another copy. Unfortunately that means I would stay up all night reading it and get no sleep the night before my race. I am having a serious dilemma here! Advice anyone? I know, next time just support the local bookstore and buy it there (duh).

I also went to see The Order of the Phoenix on Monday. Enjoyable, but the movies just can’t compare to the books. I will say that I loved the actress who played Luna Lovegood, she stole the show! I also think they picked a good Umbridge, talk about someone you love to hate! Incidentally, I just saw “The Freedom Writers” with Hillary Swank, and that same actress that played Umbridge played another bitchy teacher. She’s good at it.

So, don’t expect my TRT race report anytime soon, as I’ll be locked in my room reading…assuming I can get my hands on the book!