The Goddess of Spinning

The Goddess of Spinning:

 

I live with stress! I have a full-time job as a public school teacher, a full-time husband who craves my affection (we are very compatible physically and emotionally), and a thriving writing career that keeps me sane.  However, I need a physical dimension (a workout) included in my existence. To maintain my physical and mental stability, I take spinning classes.

 

What is spinning, you ask? Spinning is intense cycling on stationary bikes, and it is the way I blow off steam.  After a stressful day dealing with school bureaucracy, I need to decompress. My stress level deflates as I cycle away, listening to the instructor shout directions over loud, sometimes obnoxious, music.  My favorite spin class is one in which the instructor plays classic rock.  I love hearing the opening chords of “Gimme Shelter”! My heart sings as I pedal like a madwoman, spread my arms, inhale deeply, and break away.  The stress of the day melts away, and I also find myself entering the fictional worlds I love to create.  Ideas swim inside my brain as the stress evaporates. As I spin, I craft new worlds where characters–who become all too real–overtake my dreams and consciousness. The Mooney clan members, who I introduced in From Ice Wagon to Club House, have developed as I spin my frustrations away.  I never dreamed I’d write two books celebrating the Mooney family, but they inhabited my dreams and danced in front of me during my exercise routine.

 

I don’t spin as much as I’d like, but I steal away to the fitness club as often as I can. It’s there my professional and personal lives come into focus, intersect in harmony, and sustain my soul.