I Hate To Exercise Exercises For Writers

by Marilyn Henderson

Writing involves only the physical activity of moving your hands over the keyboard or a pencil or pen across a page, but the mental exertion of deciding and planning what to write can be more demanding by far. We often tense our neck, shoulder and back muscles as we concentrate on our work.

Taking mini-breaks to relax helps prevent muscles from cramping or building up tension that can lead to more serious problems. The simplest but most effective exercise is to put your hands in your lap, close your eyes and take a deep "belly" breath through your nose, letting your stomach rise as you fill your lungs to capacity and your diaphragm presses downward. Then let the breath out slowly and completely through your mouth. Do this three times and you'll feel the tension going out of your muscles.

Every once in a while, stretch your arms, do a few slow head and shoulder rolls, stretch your legs and wiggle your feet.

Sitting at the computer is hard on the lower back. Once every two hours, get up and walk around to stretch your legs. Reach for the ceiling, pick up imaginary papers from the floor or real ones if there are any. Make all movements slow and easy ones. The idea is to stretch muscles that may have tightened from being in one position so long and get the blood flowing again.

An easy way to make mini-exercises part of your writing schedule is to move anything you reach for often while you work—- the phone, coffee, snacks —- out of reach from your chair. Getting up and walking a few steps to get what you want helps those muscles stay in shape.

These exercises don't replace ones prescribed or suggested by your health care professional or personal trainer, but they'll make your writing day physically less draining. You may even concentrate better without that crick in your neck.

Marilyn Henderson, 42-year novelist, coach and mss critic. There's no substitute for experience. Let mine help you reach your dream goal.

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Email: marilyn@mysterymentor.com