{"id":9904,"date":"2016-12-18T15:06:30","date_gmt":"2016-12-18T20:06:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/?p=9904"},"modified":"2023-07-07T22:43:31","modified_gmt":"2023-07-08T02:43:31","slug":"writer-at-work-standing-up-for-your-writes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lawrencecconnolly.com\/archive\/2016\/12\/18\/writer-at-work-standing-up-for-your-writes\/","title":{"rendered":"Writer at Work: <\/i>
Standing up for Your Writes<\/br>"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"standing-up-for-the-craft2-2\"\u201cThe art of writing is the art of applying the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair.\u201d<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n

C.S. Lewis<\/a> gave that advice in 1937, in an article titled, \u201cBreaking in Print.\u201d But it didn\u2019t originate with him. He got it from his mentor Mary Heaton Vorse, who seems to be the source of the oft-repeated advice.<\/p>\n

You may have heard that advice in\u00a0its more condensed form, a terse little maxim attributed\u00a0to writers as varied as Oliver Stone and Stephen King:<\/p>\n

\u201cWriting equals ass in chair.\u201d<\/strong><\/em><\/p>\n

As with most maxims, it’s short, simple, memorable, and frequently offered as sound advice to up-and-comers.<\/p>\n

But I\u2019m here to tell you: It isn’t so.<\/p>\n

As reported in my previous post<\/a>, I spent the past six months at my desk, working to finish a book that had been hanging fire for far too long. Taking inspiration from Neil Gaiman<\/a>, who had put off writing The Graveyard Book<\/em><\/a> for 20 years before realizing he\u2019d reached a point of now-or-never, I decided I either needed to finish the darn thing or admit to myself that it wasn\u2019t going to happen.<\/p>\n

So I went to work.<\/p>\n

\"ernest-hemingway-standing-desk\"At first, I sat. It seemed like the way to go. Although I often switch off between standing, sitting, and kneeling (in an ergonomic chair<\/a>), I figured the conventional seated position would help conserve my energy, enable me to channel all my effort more effectively over the long haul. I was wrong. I soon found that rather than channeling energy into the writing, sitting diminished the intensity of the work. Worse, at the end of the day, I felt achy and spent\u2014worn out from maintaining a posture counter to the one that humans are designed for. Before long, I was back to standing.<\/p>\n

The changes were dramatic. Aches abated. Focus improved. Page count increased. I didn\u2019t feel spent at the end of the day–a big surprise since my plans to finish the book by the end of the year required spending six-to-eight hours at the desk each day. But best of all, standing improved the book\u2019s pacing, enhanced its action scenes, made me feel like a participant in the adventure rather than a chair-sitting observer.<\/p>\n

\"jefferson-2\"These were not new revelations. I had been more-or-less aware of them before. But my brief return to sitting had confirmed them. And I\u2019m not alone. Other writers have recognized the benefits of standing. Among them, Ernest Hemingway is perhaps the best known stand-up writer, thanks in part to an iconic image published in Life Magazine<\/em> (above right) and an interview in an early volume of the Paris Review<\/em><\/a>. But there are many others\u2014 Charles Dickens, Winston Churchill, Vladimir Nabokov, Virginia Woolf, Philip Roth, Thomas Jefferson (left) to name a few. And the benefits of standing and writing have been documented for centuries, as noted in an 1883 article from Popular Science<\/em><\/a>. Written by physician Felix L. Oswald, the article \u201cThe Remedies of Nature\u201d tells us that \u201cliterary occupations need not necessarily involve sedentary habits\u201d and suggests \u201cthe alternative of a standing desk.\u201d Clearly, my preference for standing is nothing new.<\/p>\n

But where does one get such a desk?<\/p>\n

\"pop-science-do-it-your-self-2\"Mine is improvised, cobbled together from found materials–an inverted drawer from a large bureau, the center pad from a dining-room table, a table-mounted armature for a flat-screen monitor. It works surprisingly well. But there\u2019s no need to scavenge and improvise. With more people discovering the benefits of standing, retailers are now offering a variety of standing desk options, from modular add-ons<\/a> that fit right on your existing desk to standing units<\/a> designed to completely replace your existing work station. If you\u2019re adventurous, you might even opt for a combination desk and treadmill<\/a>, which some users claim reduces standing fatigue (which I haven\u2019t found to be a problem). Moreover, if you\u2019re a do-it-yourselfer, you might check out these instructions<\/a> from the January 1967 issue of Popular Mechanics<\/em>, which gives detailed instructions on how to assemble the setup pictured here (on right). Naturally, you will probably want to replace the typewriter with your laptop or keyboard-enabled tablet. Lots of options.<\/p>\n

Of course, you could just keep on sitting, but before you do, you might want to check out the video below, which presents a compelling argument for getting out of the chair and standing up for your writes<\/em>. Take a look and let me know what you think. As always, you can chime in via the comment box below or at any one of the contact buttons above.<\/p>\n

Until next time, whether standing or sitting \u2026 scop on!<\/p>\n