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Wednesday 6 April 2016

Freedom In Discipline by Elaine Fraser



I had surgery in November last year, my son’s wedding late November and another, major surgery in December. On the first of December I began a one hundred day creative challenge. I knew I would be out of action and perhaps not stick to my writing plan, but I was determined to finish it. What was I thinking?

I had three other novels I was working on and, even though I would have weeks of recovery time, there was no guarantee I’d be well enough to complete the challenge.

Coming out of your comfort zone is tough in the beginning,
chaotic in the middle, and awesome in the end...
because in the end, it shows you a whole new world !!
Manoj Arora

Towards the end of the one hundred days of my writing challenge I was allowed to exercise again, and that began another whole journey. I took it fairly easy my first week back and trained on my own.

The second week I went to a boxing circuit class and almost threw up a couple of times.

The third week I was doing two classes a week, as well as training on my own.

In the first week of March I signed up to do an 8km run in the Perth Hills.

Something broke after that run. Pushing through made me realise that I was stronger than I thought. Pushing through the mental and physical barriers helped me to stay on the fitness journey.



For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, 
but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness 
to those who have been trained by it. 
Hebrews 12:11 

Between surgeries, weddings and challenges, my regular writing slowed down a little but I sent my latest YA novel, Amazing Grace, to be edited in January. When I got it back late February, I spent ten days doing the final edit on Amazing Grace.

Pushing through on this project was challenging. I pushed through at the same time as dealing with recovery from surgery, and completing a one hundred day writing challenge.

As soon as I finished Amazing Grace I was inspired to write more. I wrote out a schedule for my next two books and I’m keeping to it.

I also signed up to do NaNoWriMo and joined a cabin for April. It’s Day 3 and things have been slow, but I’m scratching words down on the page and getting something down, even if it’s rough and raw.  

I've learnt that writing is a process, a discipline, but most of all it's just getting words down on the page. 

Pushing through and writing every day—no matter what—taught me that the benefits far outweigh the pain.

Pushing through is messy, complicated, uncomfortable and plain hard work, but I've found a freedom in the discipline of writing I haven't had for a long time.

                                                                                                                                                                                
www.elainefraser.co

14 comments:

  1. All I can say, Elaine, is well done to you--especially with that 8km run! I'm in awe of all you have achieved in the last little while, despite operations. God bless and strengthen as you keep going and remain disciplined with your writing.

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    1. Thank you Jo-Anne. My default is try and overcome by setting challenges. Sometimes it's healthy and sometimes not. I'm still learning to be wise in this. On this occasion it worked!

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  2. Wow! I love that discipline in one area helps us to extend those skills to others - something I am struggling with at the moment. Great reminder about pushing through those barriers we ambush ourselves with :)

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    1. Thank you, Ruth. It's a never-ending process isn't it? I'm constantly having to reboot my motivation!

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  3. Elaine, congratulations on all that you've managed to achieve and with much opposition. Pushing through, yes, so important for us. We're fortunate that we have the Lord as co-writer. He just wants us to turn up, to push through and sit at the keyboard and then He has a chance to work through us.

    I needed to read this today. Thanks, Elaine.

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    1. Thank you, Ian. Fortunately our strength is only self-driven to a certain extent. God carries us through it all.

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  4. Inspiring post Elaine - and well done. Pushing through is why I love challenges like NaNoWriMo or Month of Poetry.

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    1. Thank you, Jeanette. External deadlines help us to push through. I've had a few life challenges this week that have distracted me from NaNoWri Camp goals so will have to push through harder this week!

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  5. You are such an inspiration. I needed that. Thank you xo

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  6. You are an inspiration, Elaine. I'm not sure I can take up your challenge but well done to you. It's obviously been worth it.

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    1. Thank you, Carol. You have achieved amazing milestones and inspire us as you keep producing excellent books! Congratulations on your latest. I'm really looking forward to reading it!

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  7. Hi Elaine, Congrats on having the discipline to push through and achieve your goals! Well done, and thanks for your encouraging words of inspiration :)

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    1. Thanks, Narelle. You're amazing! You have incredible discipline and capacity. Your encouragement to others is also inspiring.

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