How Writing Made Me Get In Shape

A bunch of things came together in April of 2011, the end result of which is that I’m now 30 pounds lighter and calling myself a writer.

So how’d that happen?

It was in April that I decided that I was going to make costumes for our local Renaissance Festival so that my husband and I could to a renewal of vows in August in period-appropriate garb. So I started doing a little research. This included buying a bunch of books and some period movies. At about this same time, I started working on this 25-day writing challenge to describe a character of a book. This is when Trey of Herongarde was born. Trey was based upon James Purefoy’s character Marshal in the movie Ironclad (which I watched while doing my research).

It got my mind going in a way it hadn’t gone in a while. I pondered to myself, what would happen if I (me, Penny, paleontologist) was suddenly dropped into the middle of the 14th century? The first thing I realized is that I’d be in big trouble on several fronts: 1) As a 21st century woman, I’m a little independent and probably a lot cheeky. I’d get into trouble. 2) As a highly educated woman, on top of being cheeky, I’d probably be labeled a witch and burned right away. 3) I don’t have any skills that would be really useful in the 14th century. I’d starve! 4) I was in really, really bad shape, comparatively. I was a little jiggly in the middle and definitely not as strong as I used to be.

Thus was born the beginnings of the Herongarde Trilogy, which I’m still working on. I had to come up with a scenario in which I (me, Penny, paleontologist) wouldn’t wind up very dead if I blipped into the 14th century. The first book is written. Let me know if you want to read it and learn how I dodged burning at the stake.

The books involve a lot of swordplay and the ‘me’ character, Hanna, has to learn to wield a sword. I looked in the mirror and realized that I couldn’t even begin to do that. I did field work that May and was winded by all the hiking. What had happened to me? I used to be able to run eight miles!

So I started losing weight. First it was just portion control (I’m a comfort eater). That took 15 pounds off me over the summer. Then in September, I started a fitness program (various things through Beachbody). It was painful, but I started to feel better. I could move again. The aches and pains started to go away.

Come November, I was feeling pretty good. It was then I learned about National Novel Writing Month, and started putting the Herongarde novels down on paper. I started thinking a lot about swordplay, and wanted to try it out. I wanted to see what it would feel like to swing a sword and hit someone. Or be hit. But I wasn’t ready yet.

I went through a couple more of the various fitness programs offered by Beachbody and was starting to feel pretty fit. I thought I was ready to try some swordplay and began to seek lessons. Read about that here. I did figure out pretty quickly that I still was not quite as fit as I needed to be, but I was much closer.

Today, I think I’m in better shape than I was 20 years ago. I can’t go out and run eight miles still. But I can run circles around my students. I can curl 15 pounds. And I can eat a horse (geez, my metabolism has kicked up!). And, I’m learning about swordplay and know what it’s like to hit and be hit.

I’m in great shape now. Not perfect, but comfortable. I feel good. And all because I started to write a little book.