Strengthen your core

by C. Michelle Jefferies

I used to be really strong. I had a lot of power physically backing me up. Part of it was my general mass. When I weighed almost 300 pounds I had sheer weight and mass to aid my strength. Part of it was I remained, even at that weight, physically active.

Since I've lost weight, I'm finding that some things are just beyond my physical ability. Things that used to be easy. It's frustrating. Losing muscle mass does that to you.

In martial arts every thing you do, every move you make is related to your core. Those center muscles of the gut and back. Without core strength you are weak and ineffective, regardless of training.

Same goes for writing.

Even if you are the most amazing story teller in the world, your written story is ineffective unless your core strengths are strong. A great story gets lost in grammatical errors. Typos and lack of structure pull the reader out of the flow.

Since so many of us are participating in NANO this month, I thought it was a great time to remind us writers that were only as good of writers as we are strong in our core writing strengths. Next month is the perfect time to go back and study that elusive rule or practice writing in order to overcome our short comings. Its also the perfect time to remind you that, that amazing 50,000 word novel you wrote this month needs a lot of revising and editing before you either publish it or submit it.

In the mean time, keep writing, and keep working toward being the best writer you can possibly be.
A strong core ability leads to a great outcome.

The path to wisdom is not always straight.