Mustering the Muse, Part 6

 Joyce Carol Oates is a runner and a writer. I like that about her because I also like to run. Often I exercise with friends, but I find when I'm on my own, I usually think my very best thoughts. I started running in college. Although I have five siblings, I had a fairly solitary childhood as my siblings were all much older than me. (My mom had five children in seven years, eight years later, she had me.) When I went away to college, I was used to extended periods of alone time. Even though I loved my roommates, there were times I really needed my own space. I found that running. I went to school in Utah, where the winters are harsh and cold. If I said I was going anywhere else, usually a roommate would want to tag along. But if I said I was going running in sub-zero weather, no one would volunteer to join me. I would put cotton in my ears, wrap a bandanna around my nose and mouth, put on several layers of clothes and run Provo's sidewalks. It was the only uninterrupted time I could find. It's nice to know that I'm in good company with Joyce Carol Oates.

"Ideally, the runner who's a writer is running through the land- and cityscapes of her fiction, like a ghost in a real setting."  Joyce Carol Oates