Comments on: Sitting

By: Elle

Elle — Tue, 25 Sep 2007 04:44:46 +0000

being a writer-in- waiting… or no, should that be a writer waiting to make some money.. no that’s not right either… okay I’m waiting for my first couple of books to be published and can’t afford the gym so have resorted to getting a part time job that gets me away from the keyboard and moving around… really stuffs up my writing time but has improved my musculature immensely(and soon I may be able to afford the gym!)

By: Robin L

Robin L — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 18:26:57 +0000

Yes! Writing is much harder on the body than you would think. I always end up getting a frozen shoulder from using the mouse so much during revisions. This is so regular that my chiropractor now calls it Revision Shoulder.

By: aden

aden — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 04:33:10 +0000

i’m still reaping the benefits of having spent some of my free time in college as a yoga/t’ai chi/shaolin kung fu instructor. aside from having a metabolism like a blast furnace, the musculature in my back is much sturdier than it ever used to be.

the yoga form also saves me the money i would be spending on a gym membership…

By: jenny d

jenny d — Fri, 21 Sep 2007 00:11:35 +0000

I am pro-gym!

Have you tried the yoga at the Iyengar Association in Chelsea? I really like how they do it there–but obv. everyone has totally different preferences, it may not suit…

By: Karen

Karen — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 23:55:31 +0000

the gym? that is drastic. though apparently drastic sometimes works. who knew?

By: Penni

Penni — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 22:18:28 +0000

I have a bad habit of sitting on one leg and getting terrible pins and needles, which I don’t notice until I don’t want to do sitting anymore, I want to do standing vacantly in the kitchen boiling the kettle. At least once a day I have to stagger around the house trying to get the feeling back in my legs. If I ever write about a paraplegic, you will know where I got my inspiration from.

By: hillary!

hillary! — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 20:46:23 +0000

I hate it when I realize I can’t feel my butt anymore.

By: Patrick

Patrick — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 17:38:50 +0000

strange. doesn’t your secretary, who you are dictating to, let you stand?

By: Laini Taylor

Laini Taylor — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:45:06 +0000

So so true! I heard a writer at a conference say of the butt-in-chair principle: “I sit on my muse.” ha ha. I haven’t had any serious “sitting complications” yet that require medical care, but I write on a bench rather than a chair, as it not only allows me to spread notebooks and atlases and piles of ms at my sides, but lets me fidget into weird childlike sitting positions–”indian-style” etc. Luckily though, I’m a “natural born sitter.” What a thing to be!

By: Tim Walker

Tim Walker — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:09:15 +0000

you’re so right about all of this. I’m a fidgeter in general, so I’m constantly up and down (which I think also saves my back), but in the end it’s all about a**-in-chair time. in my experience, many creatively-minded people simply have a hard time coming to grips with the need to drudge it out, hour upon hour, with the butt in the chair and the hands on the keyboard.

By: Rebecca

Rebecca — Thu, 20 Sep 2007 16:02:51 +0000

this is why you should utilize the rachel method. if i can find the link later (i’m not lazy, i’m just in class, mwahaha), i’ll post the video, but this amazing 15-year-old girl i know from nanowrimo lies face down on her bed, puts the keyboard where her pillow would normally be, and then stretches her arms up and types on it. i’m making it sound ridiculous, but if you see it, it’ll make more sense. i have tried this before and it is awesome. you can practically fall asleep and write at the same time. (though this can be dangerous if your hands accidentally slip and you wind up typing on the wrong keys).
i type in all manner of strange positions, none of which include sitting. hehehehehehe. i even tried typing upside down once, b/c i saw this kid who could play the piano upside down. that one didn’t work out so well.