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Behind the Baton

Writer's picture: Alyx TibbittsAlyx Tibbitts

Have you ever wondered why the logo for Battalion Press is a Baton?

I ran Track in High School, and one of my events was the 4x400m relay. If you have ever attended a high school track meet, you know that the 4x400m is the last race of the meet, and it is preceded by the distance races. Being the last race of the meet, it was always hard to keep every one there until the end, especially since most everyone left during the 3200m. But for those who stayed, there was always this awesome energy surrounding the 4x400m, even if we were essentially just carrying a baton a mile around the track.


Once a week, the relay teams had a different practice than the rest of the sprint team. We would spend an entire day once a week practicing our hand-offs. Why? Because we had to get them just right. There is a limited window in which we can hand off the baton, and we had to get everything perfect. We spend hours making sure our handoffs were perfect so when it came time to actually pass the baton in the race, we didn't think about it, it just happened. It allowed us to focus on running the best 400m sprint we could.


Something about the 400m sprint: it is EXHAUSTING. If you have the stamina, and you've done it right, you run a full sprint for the full distance, which means by the time you get to the final stretch, your lungs are burning, and you're not sure how your legs are still moving, but they are. It takes everything you have to keep pushing, not slow down, and make it to the finish line. For most of the race, the world faded away. To me, the track sounded dead silent... until you hit that final straight. As my body tried to shut down, I heard every single yell and cheer from my friends, family, teammates, and classmates. It was those "Come on, you got this!" cheers that kept me going, even when my body just wanted to crumple and give up.


Once I handed off the baton, the race wasn't over. As I passed the baton to the next girl, and crumpled on the turf next to the start finish line, I had my teammates there to pat me on the back, tell me good job, and help me get up so I could help them cheer on the girl still running. It didn't matter that we were exhausted and had given all we could. We wanted to see our hard work pay off.


I view writing much the same way. Writing the story is like running that 400 meter sprint. For much of the race, it can feel like a very solitary experience. As you are on that back straight, away from the crowds, it might feel like there is a comfortable silence, and it is just you and your thoughts racing to the promised end, not yet in site. You have a steady pace, and you feel good so far. The challenge is when you turn the last corner, and you realize you still have to get to the end. The task feels overwhelming, and maybe even impossible to accomplish. But standing there, at the end, is a future reader/writer. Just like you were inspired to write by reading another writer's work of art, so too can you inspire a future writer to follow their dream. Suddenly you hear the voices of your loved ones and fans, encouraging you not to give up... telling you that you've come so far, and it's not that much further.


There is a reason that Scattered Thoughts was the first book Battalion Press published. The penultimate stanza of the last poem in the book reads as follows:


Soon they will leave
Their mission complete:
To inspire the New Generation
To reach up, reach out
To pass the baton
To continue the legacy.

As an author, I want to inspire future writers to tell the stories that only they can tell. In order to do that, I have to actually publish my stories and share them with the world.


Just like I practiced how to hand off the baton relentlessly with my relay team so it would become second nature to us, I hope that someday, Battalion Press can become that seamless handoff between the author writing the story and reader enjoying the story. At the very least, I hope I can create a community of writers who cheer each other on, and support others while they run their race that is writing a novel.


Any way, that's all I have for you this week.


Happy Writing,

Alyx

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