A Note on Exercise and Writer Productivity

A word to the wise: Stay healthy, or your writing career will be a lot shorter than you can imagine.

Apart from regular check-ups, the basics are essential, and regular exercise is the most important.

I recently stopped my daily walks in order to get a novel out on time. It was a very bad move. Within a week and a half, my back had started to grumble to the point of me having to be very careful, I didn’t sleep so well, and I started to have trouble getting the ideas down on the page.

Within two days of walking, my back started to edge back from the brink of a major spasm and a few days in bed, and I’ve started to sleep. My creativity levels are up, and, as a whole, I’m feeling better.

I’m also more relaxed.

Walking is worth it. If you want to write, take the hour or so you need to exercise, and exercise at the level that works for you. Me? I can’t do high impact like running – not yet, anyway, and maybe not ever again – but I can do extended walking, at a fairly brisk pace, and I feel better when I do.

Exercise = productivity.

Just sayin’