once a day or once a week

I went to see the endurocross races Saturday night. They have several heats, some amateur and some pro. The course is technical and tough.  If there was ever a metaphor for publishing, the course is it. Obstacle after obstacle. Sometimes they jump them, sometimes they climb them, sometimes they skid out, and sometimes they get stuck.

biggersize the picture and you'll see the big boulder painted orange.  the blurs, btw, are motorcycles in the air

For one example, there is a segment with some big rocks to ride through. The bikes get stuck if the rider picks a bad line. But at the inner edge there's a boulder to put your leg on.  A really good rider will put his foot on the boulder in order to lift and whip his bike around the corner.

That's what the pros do, anyway. The amateurs... not so much. They mostly get stuck and sometimes have to even have help getting their heavy bikes out of the rock pile.

And I thought, There's the difference between practicing something every day or only on the weekends.

I'm pretty big into practice. Lots of writing.   Hours and hours and hours of it. A million words. It doesn't really matter, I don't think, what sort of writing. Fiction if  you're a fiction writer, obviously, but you can cross genres and lengths. For instance I learned loads about writing novels in my year of writing short stories.  I'm learning a lot about purity and plot writing a free-form online story with a friend.  I also learned a lot about writing, and staying true to myself in my writing,  from this blog. It gave me confidence to keep at the fiction.

Obviously many motocross riders and writers have dayjobs. But I'm a firm believer that the time must be put in. Otherwise, it's pretty tough to get over the obstacles.  In the past, my family was probably my biggest obstacle. But now it's myself. My own determination and drive.

What's your biggest obstacle?