Author Spotlight - Going The Distance by Delores Goodrick Beggs

As my 50th birthday approached, visions of over-the-hill accoutrement and skidding down into life's shadows vanished when I made an impromptu decision to participate in a newspaper-sponsored10K mile footrace.

Why I made such a decision I didn't know, and still don't, any more than I ever knew why I'd taken up sewing as a 4-H teenager, or started my Place in the Heart western book series, typing evenings after a stressful work day before there were closed captions to interest me in television programs. It wasn't like I'd had an affinity for track as a teenager - in gym class we girls were required to run once around the track at the close of the hour, and I usually trailed in last.

I spoke of my new goal with my adult son, who'd ran some track races when he attended high school. There was a moment of silence.

"The 10k? I haven't even run in the 10k, Mom," said my three-sport letterman.
"All I have to do is finish," I replied. "And I get a participant's ribbon."

"You have to finish that same day," he reminded me.

"You can coach me through this." I decided I needed some expert advice.
I began to train hard at the local high school track, and felt a great sense of achievement when I could jog a bit further each day. "I'm soon going to be able to run all the way around the track once," I chortled to my coach son.

"For 10K you need to go 25 times around the track," he replied.

I frowned, somewhat shocked, before I gathered my determination again. I'd had no real sense of distance when I'd decided to do this. I just had an inner need to complete something new.

I refused to be daunted, however, and kept on keeping on toward my goal. On race day, I started near the end of the pack, and stayed there; admittedly, I'd figured out some options to reach the finish line. I had to walk a lot of the way after the half way mark, running a bit, and then walking a bit, but I did finish the race that day, and while I was close to the end of the racers that trailed in, I had the satisfaction of knowing I wasn't last.

Sometimes when I worked on writing my Place in the Heart western series, and I needed to decide what issue a character would run into next, and how he/she would handle it, my mind went blank. Then the 10K race would come to mind, and my determination to finish the book would firm up again, leading me to brainstorm fresh problems the characters might logically be involved in.

For me, completing a book manuscript could be likened to running the marathon. Once started, I needed to go the distance and cross the finish line, or I didn't have anything to speak for the time and work I'd put into the creative process.


Find Substitue Lover at:
http://goo.gl/X3f5l (www.desertbreezepublishing.com)
http://goo.gl/1oqYI (Amazon.com)
Also available at Barnes & Nobel, major e-book publishers

Also available by Delores Goodrick Beggs:
Place in the Heart Book One: Breaking Point, May 2012
http://goo.gl/lH5NE (www.desertbreezepublishing.com)
http://goo.gl/1BIuN (Amazon.com)

Charming Champion, August, 2012, Contemporary single title
http://goo.gl/mfYCR (www.desertbreezepublishing.com)
http://goo.gl/r8J1U (Amazon.com)

Coming June, 2013 - Place in the Heart Book Three: Perfect Tenderfoot