Song of the Day: Girls, Girls, Girls by Mötley Crüe
Happy 2014!
It’s a new year once again and a new beginning. New beginnings often bring in new challenges and opportunities. Anyone who knows me or has followed this blog long enough knows that I am all about seizing opportunities, owning them, and learning, growing, igniting.
Well this year, I’m starting off with a bang. Killer editing deadlines, finishing up a novella for release in a month (give or take), and pole dancing. Yup. You read right—pole dancing.
Why pole dancing? Why not? Sure I could claim it’s for research, and I suppose in a way it is. But honestly, it’s just another fun, bold adventure I wanted to take.
And as with everything I do, it wasn’t difficult to compare my endeavors with writing. No, really.
1. Learning to pole dance is stepping out of the box (and comfort zone) and doing something fun, risky and terrifying. So it can be for the author trying out a new genre or project. Or for the newbie writer embarking on their first manuscript. Or the author about to dive into the growing new world of self-publishing for the first time.
2. Pole dancing works to strengthen your core to support the body. Just like writers need to make sure the story plot (core) is strong. A flabby plot is too weak to support the story. No sagging middles!
Trophy Bruise
Fig. 1
3. Pole dancing creates flexibility in surprisingly many muscles. Writers need flexibility in many of their muscles, too. Think of how pliant and adaptable we have to be in such areas as time, changing storylines, writing methods, in the moving parts of character GMCs, and even where we write, to name a few.
4. Besides spinning, there are tricks that can be done on the pole that are almost acrobatic, sans the safety net. In writing, these “tricks” might equate to something as simple as a unique voice, unusual swag, or cool, cutting-edge marketing methods. Or it could mean something tougher like using technology to allow readers a chance to pick from a choice of story endings.
5. Writers hear it often—there are no new stories, only new ways and variations to tell old tales. There is one pole but many types of spins that are done on and around it. Besides putting the sexy in slinking up and down the pole without ever leaving the floor (no twerking!), I’ve learned four spins—the sit, the drag and fly, the fireman, and my most ambitious one to date, the leg hook backward spin.
Trophy Bruise
Fig. 2
6. Practice, practice, practice! Pole dancing is not easy and I currently look like a not-so-graceful drunk elephant swinging wildly in a circus tent. But I will get better as long as I keep at it. This is true with anything worth doing. A writer has to hone their craft and the only way to do this is to keep writing.
7. There are a lot of “trophy bruises” that come with pole dancing. I’m kinda proud of my bruises. They are tangible evidence that I am working hard toward something I enjoy. For authors, those bruises come in the form of tough critiques, poor contest results, agent/editor rejections, and harsh reviews. Ouch! But those black and blue punches we take makes us stronger—better.
8. New students to pole dancing class set goals. What is it they want to achieve. More flexibility, be fit, earning more tips than co-workers, to tone muscles? Writers have
goals, too. Most want to finish, sell, and publish a book. My personal pole dancing goal? To be able to hang upside down on a pole using only my thighs. Just wait…
There you have it. How pole dancing and writing are in common. What else can you take away from this post? Don’t be afraid to try be bold. Learning something new makes you stronger. Stretch yourself. And, you are never too old to pole dance.
Comments and thoughts are always welcome.
