The Heavy Bag

Demon Baby has two amazing talents. One, he is a great breakdancer. I have no idea where he learned this particular skill, but he will lie down on his back and spin. He will do some weird "popping" motion, and something I call "the chopping arm." He is a sight to behold.

Skill set #2 is boxing.

Yes. I, a pacifist mother, appear to have birthed a child who is destined to box. All I can say is LOOK at that pretty face. How could I let him do it?

Now, here's the thing, he "boxes" me at any chance he can get. He's short, so that means he punches my thighs. And no, this isn't wild flailing, punching. This is his serious interest in fighting skills, and punching like a boxer. The stance, the bobbing, the weaving. He looks like this guy--one of my favorite boxers.

Surprise for you blog readers. Yes, I know about boxing. When I was in college, my room-mate decorated her side of the room with covers of this magazine. My half was decorated with magazine covers of THIS one. I gew up watching the fights with my dad. I dated a boxer. I loved the sport. When this show was on, I never missed an episode. I never let Demon Baby watch it, but somehow, he has absorbed the classic "fighter" stance, keeping his "gloves" (in his case . . . hands) up and not telegraphing his next shot. It is pretty amazing.

So Demon Baby's father said yesterday, "There's a long tradition of Mexicans in the ring. I am going to get him a heavy bag. Maybe it will channel some of his aggression. He can punch a bag. He has that lean physique."

Which BRINGS ME, at last, to writing.

Now, I am not saying I am going to let Demon Baby step into the ring, no matter WHAT his delusional father says. But I will at least acknowledge that all those Mexican fighters probably started training about Demon Baby's age. The Olympic fighters that will be competing next week probably started as kids, like my father, in some kind of Golden Gloves program. They trained the memory of their muscles young, until the muscles didn't have to think. They just did it.

So it is with writing. We each have some kind of heavy bag training. NONE of it involves READING. Reading, while so important, is like reading about boxing. It's like studying fight films and stances. It's only going to get you so far. At some point, you have to actually WRITE and punch the heavy bag. And at some point after that, the things you struggle with--passive voice, telling instead of showing--whatever it is, will start to strip away in favor of memorized muscle.

After 20+ years of writing fiction (at least), since my teen years . . . my heavy bag training is never complete. But some things are second nature to me now--like passive voice. When I started writing, I barely knew what that was . . . now . . . it's usually outta there. Cliche? No lumps in throats. No tears stinging eyes. No broken hearts. I can spot a cliche from a mile off. And better yet, so can my writers' group, so even if I attempt to slip in one sucker punch, they are going to nail me for it. I'm still working, I think, on MOVEMENT as a writer--every page being essential or else cutting the scene entirely.

And you? What's your heavy bag? What muscles are you training the hardest? What is now second nature.