AUTHOR Anne loiselle

Let’s talk about sitting. It’s the new smoking, as they say, in terms of your health, which is oddly fitting for writers: so many photographs depict writers from previous decades posing with cigarettes in their hands; either that or alcohol of some kind, also notable for its deleterious effect on a person’s long-term health. So, the marriage of writing and this new scourge is not exactly surprising.

What is a bit alarming to me, though, is how much sitting one does as a writer. I was an office worker in my past career, so it’s not that I’m not used to sitting at the computer or during meetings and the like. My experience in the office, though, was more active than might be imagined. In most cases I was in very large office buildings, which meant that to get from place to place – coffee machine, cafeteria, conference room, colleague’s desk – I had to walk, and most days I was up and down from my chair pretty often. Commuting required sitting but getting to and from the parking lot or metro station required walking. There were even a few stints when I was able to ride my bike to work, which I now recall with particular fondness. The thing is: working in an office, I rarely sat for long periods of time.

Writing is different. I get in the flow, and there are no interruptions from phone calls, emails, or meeting notifications, so I stay in the flow. Time goes by, and I don’t move. I love it, but it’s not healthy, and there’s more. If you’re an indie writer, especially, you probably go to festivals or other events to sell your books. In my case, getting to any of these requires driving (often several hours of it), and then, well, sitting. When you man a booth, the most important thing is to be there. You can stand and move your legs of course, but honestly, there is a lot of sitting. Suddenly, in my writing life, sitting for two to three hours at a time is not that unusual.

What to do about this? Writers can adopt some of the same ploys as office workers, especially those who work from home: standing desks, walking treadmills, pomodoro timers, for example. I’m currently playing with setting a more rigid “move schedule,” inserting types of activity at specific points of the day. This requires more self-discipline than I’m used to, so I can only report partial success at this point. Writing my first book, I signed up for triathlons and running races, as the deadline for being ready was a good motivator to put down the laptop and get some exercise. I also started doing virtual challenges. My favorites were part of the mermaid series hosted by Title Nine (the clothing company) – for one challenge, I swam, paddle boarded, or kayaked almost every day for two months to get to 100 miles on the water by New Year’s Day. My mantra has been: it doesn’t matter what it is, just do something to make sure I get up and about in between writing sessions.

Funny thing: some of my best ideas come to me when I’m on the move. So often I come back from a walk, a run, or a ride with some sort of breakthrough I can’t wait to write down. What’s good for the body is good for the brain, if you can just tear yourself away. Any other writers out there trying to combat the woes of too much sitting? Feel free to share what works!

That’s all for now – time to move! See you next time 😊