If You Want to Write...

A very late post in our weekly series on writing. Apologies for the lateness, I succumbed to evil sickness this week.

Writing Physically

Since day one of my life, I have never been the skinny kid that Italian grandmothers cluck over and say, "EAT! EAT!" One might argue for genes and heredity (and laziness and hatred of exertion) but I argue for destiny. Obviously everyone knew I was going to be a literary genius; so who needs exercise? All writers do is sit down and type or read, right? There's a lot of sitting involved. Nice, non-calorie-burning sitting.

But you can't write without moving. Or you shouldn't. Your writing lacks something if all you do is read and write and maybe play solitaire online. Life is meant to be lived; life is meant to be written down. Without life, there's nothing to write. And life also means moving.

Enough with the platitudes. I challenge you to move this week, but make a connection to your writing. Maybe you pick up the ol' cricket bat and imagine yourself in the shoes of Lord Peter Wimsey in Murder Must Advertise. Maybe you visit a salsa class to feel the movement for your novel (I do!). Join your mind-body-soul and see how it affects your writing.

Write, I should say, with physicality.