It's fine to talk figuratively about living on junk food and not getting any exercise being bad for you as an artist. Yes, a regular diet of DC comics is a daily helping of pork rinds fried in backfat for a guy who's already had 2 quadruple bypasses, ha ha. But let's get real: the literal version is just as important as the metaphor. Except for those who still write in long hand on legal pads, writers spend a lot of time on the computer. Lots of non-writers do too, and even in the age of wireless laptops, it's a fairly sedentary activity. If you don't take care of yourself a little, it's going to catch up with you.
Item: If you don't take the time to make your work space comfortable and your computer running smoothly, you wind up spending twice as much time:
- working through technical headaches, which are frustrating even when they don't happen at the worst possible times.
- performing these little workarounds that are only 5 clicks… but you do them 10,000 times a day and that's exhausting
- shifting in your chair
More on #3. We all know about carpel tunnel: if your keyboard isn't at the right height for your wrists, you can cause yourself some serious pain before you know what's happened. But here's one we don't all know, and it's a lot more insidious: the height and angle of your monitor can put enormous strain on your neck, strain you don't even feel because you're concentrating on what is ON the screen, not what's physically happening to your body. You wind up exhausted and you don't know why.
The advent of WiFi and laptops has changed some of that, but there are still physical issues to be mindful of. Eye strain from screenglare is only one of them. If you're getting headaches (or neck aches, or back aches) and you're not sure why, look very critically and how you use your computer.
FWIW, I am convinced I write better on the desktop. I don't know if it's the ergonomic chair, breathing better because I sit up straight, the fact that I'll get up and pace more, or just sense memory from the early fics because I started off at the desk, but I think there really is a difference. I still write on the laptop a good bit, on the comfort principle. Anyway…
Item: Oxygen is good for you. Movement is good for you.
Blocked? Take a walk. Hell, even if you're not blocked, get up and do a little stretching to cleanse the palette between scenes. Even an
I'm-the-goddamn-Batman Millerite will write better if they feel better. Of course, I can't guarantee that they'd still see the world as a rotting
mountain of dung if they didn't feel like one themselves, but they're not going to try anything I suggest anyway. For the rest of us, there is
definitely no downside to getting up from the desk and engaging in the level of physical activity that leaves you feeling invigorated.
Yes, I'm talking light activity for the couch potato. This is not "no pain, no gain" time. If you're sweating or breathing hard, you're doing too much. Save that for the gym.
Item: There's more to food than Big Macs vs Tofu on 12-grain.
Let's not pretend that anybody needed SuperSize Me to tell them McDonald's food isn't good for you.
Let's also not pretend that those of us who are not engaged to militant vegan chefs don't eat it anyway from time to time… And don't you dare say
"oh not me" if it's Wendy's, KFC or Pizza Hut instead of McDicks that you indulge in. You all know what I'm saying. Taste and convenience
are just as important to most of us as nutrition.
Yes, writing is sedentary. If it or any work you're doing is keeping you from getting the exercise you should, then it is a very good idea to make up for it in other ways. A healthier diet is a very good way to go about it. Eating too much junk food does have a physical effect: you don't feel good in small ways that are hard to identify. Eating right does make you feel better, and, see above: feel better, write better.
But let's not pretend that lasagna doesn't taste better than lentils. That pleasure is part of the equation, it's part of feeling better and writing better too.
As with so much in life, both extremes are equally bad for you. If you live on fast food, for god sake, learn to cook. In 30 minutes Alton Brown can teach you to make a burger 10X better than anything you can buy, and don't even get me started on his fried chicken.
On the other hand, if you have eaten alfalfa more than once in the past 7 days, you need to treat your taste buds a little better. You need to develop a palate NOW. You need to stop priding yourself on not being able to enjoy music because this way you don't waste money on concert tickets! This minute, you need to go out there and buy something with flavor.
DO IT. You're going to die anyway, we all are. Some of us have some pleasant experiences before we get to the graveyard. Be one of them.
