Tennis Anyone?

I have started playing Tennis. With all this nice weather I had to put away the Wii and get some real movement! It's been fun and exciting and frustrating all at once. I've always wanted to play. Years ago I bought some cheap rackets at a yard sale, but year after year they sat in the basement while I did other things. So finally I met someone who really likes to play which got me excited. My old yard sale rackets were warped and weak, so I've tossed them and bought new rackets.

First time out on courts in literally years and no real game experience to speak of, but I was out there in my new Adidas tennis outfit and I had fun. I chased the balls more than I hit them, but it was happening. I was being physically active and I had a target and goals and I was working on them.

Been just a few more sessions but I feel some improvement. I've heard some good pointers and the determination is there. I am learning it more and more and I know what I'm doing wrong and challenging myself to make every shot a focused and intended connection.

Now it's write night and before starting this blog, I decided to apply some tennis to my writing. Truth is I've been tripping up over all my writing projects. I pull one out, find problems, and put it away and take something else out. I've lost focus. The balls are there and being served and I'm missing my shots.

So I made a list of the top six writing projects I have going on. Then under each story I wrote "pros", "cons", "problems" and "possible solutions" and then I filled each in. I didn't start with the first one, and worked my way down. I skipped around answering to the ones that were easiest. It's like getting the soft balls bounced my way - I can hit them.

Looking at my list, I feel I know where my strengths and weaknesses lie with each story. I have isolated the problems and solutions. Like with tennis, I know what I'm doing wrong and can challenge myself to make every shot a focused and intended connection. Once again, the court is lit and I'm out there with my netbook, stories, and ideas, and I'm ready to play... even the fast hard balls!

Now I just need to work on my back-hand.

Tennis anyone?