Phoenix Living

Meaning…remember to care for your writing instrument, which is your brain, which is housed within your body. This advice comes in early in the month in the hopes of encouraging good body-care habits from the start. It will benefit your writing too!

I’m one of few writers I know who willingly and consciously incorporate the advice given to anyone who works long hours at a computer: look up and away from the screen every twenty minutes to focus your gaze on something across the room from you; get up for 5 minutes every hour to stretch and move around; stretch and move your arms and hands, shoulders and neck in-between writing bursts as often as you think of it; take longer breaks every 3-4 hours at most, for rest and food. I want to be able to write for years to come, and making these adjustments into habit early on is a very small energy price for a big return both now and later. In addition to making it more likely I’ll have less severe chronic typing issues later, it means I can usually put in longer hours in the now before getting fatigued. The more I get good (and enough) rest, and healthy food, and regular massages and stretching and exercise, the more and better and more frequently I write.

It really does work like that, and I’m not the only writer who thinks so. I’ve read several writers who recommend taking up a sport or regular physical activity that interests you, as part of your weekly writing routine. (Quite a lot of sff writers seem be on a rock climbing bug lately, and I’m no exception there, but I’m also interested in other activities too.) If you’re less physically inclined or capable, it’s still worth considering regular stretching, as well as possible low-impact activities like chair yoga or gentle water aerobics. If you’re capable of more activity, then get active! regularly! It can even sometimes help break you out of a stuck creative spot.

Our modern life encourages us to be far more sedentary than our biology prefers us to be, and since we’re still primarily biological organisms for now, we can’t ignore those needs without losing optimal functioning. So while you’re still feeling good about that initial flow of words onto the page, don’t forget to give a little love to the parts of you making that work possible–fingers, hands, arms, shoulders, neck, brain. Hey, even that butt that’s staying dedicatedly in that chair needs a wiggle now and then to stay properly supportive…