My friend Mary Robi­nette Kowal fre­quently does writing sprints using G+ video hang­outs. I’ve only ever gotten to par­tic­i­pate once, but I found it oddly effec­tive. Just knowing that other writers (in this case, my other friend Howard Tayler) were on there, hearing their keys clacking away, helped me stay focussed and on task.

I’ve decided to take a page from that book, but I want to put my own spin on it. If there’s one thing in the world that’s a close second to writing in the cat­e­gory of: stuff-we-know-we-should-do-but-blow-off-because-it’s-painful, it’s Phys­ical Training (PT). Like writing, it is one of my great loves. Like writing, it is crit­ical to my job performance.

There­fore, I pro­posed the fol­lowing: 3 fif­teen minute writing sprints, with a 5 minute PT break in between. (write 15 min­utes, PT for 5 min­utes, write 15 min­utes, PT for 5 min­utes, write 15 min­utes, PT for 5 min­utes — Whole thing will take an hour).

I’ll call the time and lead the PT. We’ll write in silence.

I will do it by way of a G+ hangout on Sat­urday, March 23rd. I’ll start hanging out on Google+ at noon, Eastern Stan­dard Time (US), and we’ll kick it off at 12:10PM or so. Just join up, or email me at myke (at) mykecole (dot) com, and I’ll invite you. (obvi­ously, you’ll need a Google+ account and you’ll have to add me to your circle).

If you’re inter­ested, you’ll need your laptop and:

- Wear PT clothes. Have a yoga mat or some­thing soft over the floor.

- Have a water bottle handy. You should prob­ably have water in it.

Writing will con­sist of … well, writing. For PT, you should be ready to:

- Hold plank for 30 seconds.

- Hold roman chair for 30 seconds.

- Hold squat posi­tion for 30 seconds.

- Do pushups.

- Do situps.

- Do seated rowers.

Don’t worry about being in good shape. I’m not scoring anyone and you should feel free to do your PT off camera. Just be safe, know your limits, and try your best.

If you’re inter­ested, shoot me an email at the above address. I’m think G+ has a 10 person limit for hang­outs, so it’ll be first come, first serve.

Should be fun! Sweaty, but fun.