Exercise is good for what?!
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I hit my punching bag a few hundred times (or go for a walk if I'm feeling more mellow) when I hit a mental block. It seems to work.
Regular exercise gives you energy and reboots your mind. It also helps you sleep and rest fosters creativity. Not surprised.
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You mean writing exercises? Because that's what eventually helped me get back into writing after a long drought. (almost typed draught because I'm thirsty and I just started my vacation)
But real exercise? That just makes me tired and sore.
But real exercise? That just makes me tired and sore.
I totally buy this. As exhausted as I was a few weeks ago with field hockey...my writing was improving daily.
Not so right now (mainly because of my busted computer, and everywhere else HURTS).
Not so right now (mainly because of my busted computer, and everywhere else HURTS).
Aww, sorry to hear about the pain. And the computer. But there's always pen and paper I guess, which I find easier to let the juices flow (sorry to get off track).
I also heard something about a certain neurotransmitter that makes your body feel "good" and more able to get in the zone. I wish I could remember where I heard that from.
Totally into this. I started back up on a jogging regiment and have had such a blitz of ideas that I can't write fast enough to keep up with them. Besides, it feels good to move my tubby limbs again. Maybe by spring I'll have shed a few pounds and cranked out a chunk of a new novel.
pike
pike
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Endorphines. They are what gets released into your brain and is a highly addictive stimulant. Which as soon as my cold is gone I will be back at it every day. 
Free drugs.
Free drugs. 
I know strenuous exercise produces endorphins in the blood. But so does smoking pot (makes you hungry, too)...
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Pot dulls the mind...slows you down...and who needs to smoke up AND get fat.
I say work out..get your high...then park your bum in the chair and go for it!
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Exercise doesn't help my writing.
That said, I can't write without a good space to pace around in. I have to pace to write. I have to pace to think, too. Is this perhaps what you're talking about?
That said, I can't write without a good space to pace around in. I have to pace to write. I have to pace to think, too. Is this perhaps what you're talking about?
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Oh. That does nothing for me. Nothing at all. I can't breathe and exercise at the same time, this tends to cause problems.
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Asthma? My son has asthma and he uses his inhailor fifteen minutes before and makes sure he warms up.
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No. Some sort of wacky sinus problems.
And I never got the whole 'breathing while doing something else' thing down. It's like walking and chewing gum at the same time for me. Too difficult.
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Ain't that the truth! If I don't run at least two or three miles in the morning, I get so emotionally anxious and yet I don't feel like I have any energy at all. I think I'm an endorphine junky. Love the avi, Cass, it's gorgeous
Endorphines. They are what gets released into your brain and is a highly addictive stimulant. Which as soon as my cold is gone I will be back at it every day.
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Doesn't work for me. I need to be kind of a wreck to write--all keyed up and anxious and demented.
Exercise is fine--after I've written.
Rollo May noticed the same thing in his classic "The Courage to Create." He was into meditation. He found that meditation put things into perspective. Too damn much perspective: his work no longer seemed that urgent or earthshaking.
If I'm going to get anything done writing -wise, persepctive is that last thing I need. It probably means I'm mentally off-balance, but that's how I am am.
On the other hand--what mentally healthy person would sit picking at a keyboard for hours worryng about how to make stories about made-up people sound believable?
But I'm sure the article cited is correct. It probably explains why so many world-class novelists are also renowned athletes!
Exercise is fine--after I've written.
Rollo May noticed the same thing in his classic "The Courage to Create." He was into meditation. He found that meditation put things into perspective. Too damn much perspective: his work no longer seemed that urgent or earthshaking.
If I'm going to get anything done writing -wise, persepctive is that last thing I need. It probably means I'm mentally off-balance, but that's how I am am.
On the other hand--what mentally healthy person would sit picking at a keyboard for hours worryng about how to make stories about made-up people sound believable?
But I'm sure the article cited is correct. It probably explains why so many world-class novelists are also renowned athletes!
I go on long walks to get inspired, then forget what I was going to write about by the time I make it home.
I only have that problem if I get so excited that I run home.
Staggering is usually safe.
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Exercise exhausts me. Literally. As in I sleep 18 hours a day for the next three days. Something about this wacky genetic defect of mine... And I've never, in my entire life, had an endorphin rush from exercise.
But what if you come up with the greatest story ever and are in such a hurry to get home you run under a bus? It would be lost to humanity for all time.
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