Day 9 - Invest in Your Back

Okay - so today I only accomplished about three pages of novel (and I'm pretty sure it was crap, but I'm too afraid to look) and even less progress on my script. I thought about my character, I futzed around on a couple scenes. I think I wrote one new scene and I'm sure I hate it.

It wasn't for lack of trying. Believe me. Some days your muse is on vacation and there's not a jelly donut in the world that can coax him back.

So, here are two important things I can speak on today.

1) When I get back to work next week, I will not try to play catch up. Catch up will drive you crazy and you'll stop writing. If a day comes along and you don't hit your goal all you can do is promise yourself to try to do better tomorrow.

2) Part of the reason why I didn't get everything I wanted accomplished is because I went to see my chiropractor. This isn't an excuse. Don't get me wrong. It's a part of my process, like twenty minute think-naps and collecting composition notebooks I rarely write in, but love toting around just in case.

Now, I'm from the mid-west and we, as a people, don't believe in chiropractors or any remedy found in a health store. So for most of my life I shunned going. Even now, I rarely let the doc "crack" me. But, if you are a serious writer - you are going to develop serious back problems if you are not careful.

For years, I thought that I had A.D.D. (and my former writing partner probably did too) because I could not sit behind my computer for more than ten minutes. It was physically impossible. It wasn't until I invested in a good chair from Relax The Back that I realized the reason I couldn't sit still was because I was in pain. So I bought a chair that was the price of a small car. Something like this: Other Ergonomic chairs can be found for less. Just make sure you can adjust the seat and arm height.

The bottom line is that it didn't have to be that hard.

At the ripe old age of twenty-four I had already got myself so knotted up massages didn't make a dent. So hear me now and thank me later. Make your writing space ergonomic. Get the keyboard at the right height. Get a good chair. Make sure you are looking straight on at your monitor, not down or up. Get up every twenty minutes and stretch.

If you're comfortable you'll be able to stay at it longer. And it's a heck of a lot easier to lose yourself in your writing when you don't feel like you have a knife between your shoulder blades.