The most anti-writing activity you take part in

[nossmf]

Per the title, what's the most anti-writing activity you enjoy participating in? For example, watching television is absorption not production, but I'm sure we can do better.

Personally, I love weight-lifting, using my muscles to forge a better body rather than my mind to forge a better story.

What about you?

 

[Disa]

Working with art clay silver to design jewelry and other things.

 

[kuwisdelu]

Per the title, what's the most anti-writing activity you enjoy participating in? For example, watching television is absorption not production, but I'm sure we can do better.

Huh? By that definition reading is anti-writing.

My most anti-writing activity is probably tapping the delete key.

 

[jennontheisland]

Work.

 

[Brightdreamer]

Work.

+1

I keep meaning to use the mindless time for story daydreaming, but lately my brain keeps veering into old ruts. And then I see all those books going through my hand and get hacked off that I haven't written any of them, and it feeds the vicious cycle.

Huh? By that definition reading is anti-writing.

My most anti-writing activity is probably tapping the delete key.

Words are just another tool of the Man - fight the power!

 

[rohstod]

Baking. Whenever I get nervous, I want to make cookies. I tell myself I'm not going to eat the cookies, that I'm going to give them to neighbors or something, but then I eat the cookies. Last week I made these oreo cheesecakes. They were soooooo good.

 

[Layla Nahar]

By anti-writing do you mean something that is contradictory to the stereotype of writers, or do you mean something that is counterproductive?

 

[morngnstar]

Huh? By that definition reading is anti-writing.

Agreed. If reading is a writing-related activity, then so is TV-watching, because you can still learn about story structure. Maybe reality TV ... but even that teaches you how to use editing to make the story more interesting.

I'm pretty sure washing the dishes is anti-writing. No creativity, pretty much all routine. But did you mean something I do for recreation? Sorry, I don't think I would do anything if there wasn't some notion of a story in it. Maybe swimming? That seems to be mostly about statically being in the elements. Even if you're moving, you're not going anywhere.

Even weightlifting has story. There is a conflict: you against gravity. There is an arc, as you try to push yourself to lift more, a climax when you hit the last rep.

 

[K.P. Iris]

I would say video games...and YouTube. The channels I'm subbed to are more or less watching other people do things, no real narrative involved. But then there are the purely informational channels that I watch just to learn something interesting. There's also work (two jobs, crazy schedule). And personal stuff I won't go into. So I cherish the sudden writing spurts I get out of nowhere even if it leads to an inconsistent schedule.

 

[Dennis E. Taylor]

Civ III

 

[Curlz]

dozing off in the garden

 

[Layla Nahar]

I think puttering on the internet is prolly the most anti-writing thing you can do.

 

[Marlys]

I can't think of anything that is anti-writing. Anything that occupies mainly my body lets my mind wander. Anything that occupies mainly my mind sparks ideas.

 

[Shadow_Ferret]

Nothing I do is against writing.

 

[TylerXavier]

Video games are probably the most detrimental, though I've cut back on that quite a bit in the past few years.

Would it be wrong to say that submitting is the most anti-writing thing I do?

 

[K.P. Iris]

Would it be wrong to say that submitting is the most anti-writing thing I do?

If by that you mean that you hesitate and worry yourself for far too long thus putting a hold on other things before actually sending in your submission...then yes...maybe. Coincidentally, is this thread becoming meta? I'm not quite sure if it fits the definition but I'm definitely not writing creatively as I type this, that's for sure.

 

[Keyboard Cowboy]

It's a very evil, addictive game called Walking Dead: No Man's Land. =)

 

[Myrealana]

Work.

This.

I can't write at work. I can't really think about writing at work. It takes me a good hour of non-work to get my head out of "work mode" and into "writer mode" and most evenings, by the time that hour is over, any time I might have been able to write has been used up.

 

[WriterDude]

I think puttering on the internet is prolly the most anti-writing thing you can do.

Agreed. I can wrap it up as research but it's not, its distraction. Same as telly, i get some inspiration from it, but its distraction. I don't watch a lot of TV and what I do watch is mostly informative.

Raising kids is probably the only thing that occupies the time I would otherwise spend writing, but we do stuff, go places and see things, that do translate in to content when I do get chance to sit alone with the tools of passion.

 

[CindyGirl]

Cleaning the house and/or doing laundry.

 

[M.Charles]

Raising 5 kids. I'd say homeschooling, but there's writing involved. Theirs, granted, but...

 

[regdog]

Video games, and taking pictures of my Transformers and making comics out of them.

 

[DerekReiner]

I have to agree with "work" as well. It is a constant drain on my mental energy and my writing gets whatever is left at the end of the day. I may have to bite the bullet and start getting up early.

 

[Cindyt]

Gaming, visiting other sites, and researching

 

[Devil Ledbetter]

Work, with playing guitar as a close second. My guitars have sadly taken a seat in the way-back while I polished a novel for publication, and will stay there as I draft this next one.