100 Day Creative Challenge Day 69: Stay Seated
Apparently I’m taking years off my life because I’m a writer. Research suggests that sitting in and of itself is a risk factor for poor health and premature death—even if you exercise regularly.
When asked the secret to finishing his 500 page masterpiece The Power of One, author Bryce Courtenay growled, “Bum glue!” Courtenay would often sit at his desk for twelve hours and produced books year after year. He also ran marathons. So maybe he compensated for his sitting with hours of running?
Over-achiever? Obsessed? Or devoted to his craft?
So, in order to fulfil my life’s destiny I have to sacrifice years of my life? I do get up at every hour or two (my bladder wouldn’t let me sit that long without a short walk!) I also aim to do 10 000 steps a day and go to the gym a few times a week to do boxing circuit classes. A balanced life?
The principle here is that writing is an occupation and, if you’re committed to producing books, it’s going to take work, and work means sitting at the desk with your pen and notebook, or laptop, and writing.
N.B. This photo is for illustration purposes only! Here’s me looking very professional at my desk ‘writing’. You can tell it’s posed and polished as normally I’d be in my happy pants, hair tied back in a scrunchy and absolutely no makeup.
I have a couple of really nice chairs in my office and move from one to the other during the day as I write. I have a window seat, a leather wing-backed chair, a thirty year-old chesterfield couch and a wing-backed chair from Freedom that I sit in most of the time. Changing my physical position often tweaks something in my brain (refreshes my synapses?) and fresh thoughts are sparked. I’m not sure how to describe the physiology, but moving does something!
Right now, I’m firmly seated on my chesterfield with my laptop and writing.
One of my wing-backed chairs also has a matching footstool. I love my writing space!
I’ve found that busting your ass on a daily basis to make your art good, clear, and meaningful creates the most luck.
― Don Roff
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