Saturday I ran the Indianapolis Mini-Marathon and being me, I looked for lessons and principles. One thing I’ve learned is that little in my life ever falls in one category. God often uses lessons from one to teach me principles that can be applied in other areas. Here are a few I extrapolated out as applied to writing…1) Be prepared. Eric didn’t know that the T-ball game would be canceled, but it was. He ran 10 miles without training, but imagine what he could have done if he’d kept up with it — even on a reduced basis. Read books, join organizations like ACFW, and hone your craft. You never know when an editor or agent will want to look at your writing. Will it be ready?

2) Stick with it. I did not want to run the mini. By Friday and Saturday morning I’d about talked myself out of it. Now, I can’t wait to sign up for my next one — though I still have no desire to run a marathon! I could have talked myself out of it — after training since January. But sometimes we have to stick our heads down and do the work. Write 500 words a day consistently and at the end of a year you’ll have a book. The reward can come from that alone.

3) Live in community. If we didn’t have a community, we wouldn’t have had anyone who was ready and willing to step in and help with the kids. Join ACFW, a local writing group, or online crit group. When with others you’ll learn more about writing, form fast friendships, and develop the community you’ll need to write for the long term.

4) Walk a self-disciplined life. None of this would have been possible if I hadn’t worked for 16 weeks to train. Running on days I wanted to and didn’t. But as I ran day after day, I built up the base I needed to shave 5 minutes off my time from two years ago. My average mile pace dropped to 10:30! Now to hit 10 minutes a mile next time In writing, it’s by being disciplined and writing when I’m not sure I want to, that I over time write book after book.