Welcome to Writers Talkback. If you are a new user, your account will have to be approved manually to prevent spam. Please bear with us in the meantime

One way to cure writer's block...

edited December 2013 in - Writing Problems
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-2518113/How-getting-sweaty-banish-writers-block-People-exercise-regularly-better-creative-thinking.html

Comments

  • I would have to say I think this is true. When I borrowed the chair which keeps you moving all the time I wrote 4 poems in one day. Unheard of, for me. I'm just not that productive.
  • I write a lot. I don't exercise regularly.
  • No, but you garden, PM. I used to have my own gym and it really did rev up the adrenaline and, in turn, the brain. Mm. Must go and pedal for a few kms on the exercise bike.
  • I'm doing push ups right now and penning a saga with a Bic in my mouth.
  • [quote=Mrs Bear]No, but you garden, PM[/quote] Yes. I don't regularly exert myself though. I'll potter most days and then do a day of hard digging. The report suggests that being active occasionally will make us less creative as it'll use up the creative energy. I don't believe that's true.
  • No, I don't either. I think creativity depends on more than that, as usual this report if looking at the subject from one point of view.

    It also depends on input, you can't be creative unless you are also dabbling and taking in input in your chosen field, and reading is what we need to do, and the better the reading, the more it lifts your own writing.

    And I also believe that input from other creative pursuits, either from observation or doing also helps other creative outputs.

    PM, you have these inputs.

    But keeping yourself moving isn't boosting creativity per se I don't think, I think it's keeping your mind active and more able to come up with something and keep coming up with something because you are alert, and concentrating for extended periods.
  • Lifting my supersized coffee mug in between sentences works up a sweat.

    But seriously I agree with Liz, I think it's more about staying alert. Too much exercise could make you tired and unable to concentrate. But just getting away from writing and doing anything that doesn't involve mental exertion and leaves the mind free to think (daydream) spontaneously can produce creative sparks; and exercise of any form, even just a walk, fits the bill.
  • I've been trying to get fit this year but I'm not sure if that has boosted my creativity or not. I don't think it has. I do it just so I stay fit. It isn't life style change I've done it just because I want to. Last year I had McDonald’s Burger King, KFC and tons of other junk food almost every day I was in Uni. Now I only have it once or twice a week. I do half an hours worth of exercise most days. I do 3/4 push ups, jumping jacks or Star jumps, stomach crunches, burpees (you go from a push up, to your feet, jump then back to push up) and the one where you lay on your back bend your knees and reach to your ankles. No idea what that is called but it burns!
  • edited December 2013
    I've been cutting out all in between meals for a few weeks.

    Losing weight quite pleasantly and I can see where it's coming off which is encouraging.

    Plus I am going for walks more than I used to. I walk every day, sometimes twice.
  • Wow St Force! Your abs must be enormous! Glad to hear you've seen the light.

    We're still waiting for our granddaughter at uni to learn to pace her partying (and spending) !
  • [quote=Tristram_Shandy]getting away from writing and doing anything that doesn't involve mental exertion[/quote]
    Pursuing physical exertion is, sometimes, also best means of releasing tension.

    Times past, having endured a particularly frustrating need to apply diplomacy in professional negotiations, being able to demolish a brick wall or similar was most therapeutic.
    There are no walls left to demolish but vigorous strides of walking help focus the formulation of descriptions.
  • [quote=Lizy]Wow St Force! Your abs must be enormous! Glad to hear you've seen the light.[/quote] Hardly. I do it to keep off the fat but I need to do more to actually develop some muscles. The problem is I get so tired. I have learned the lesson about eating junk food. (I’ve just had chips in the Uni canteen but that’s the only junk food I’ve had this week)
Sign In or Register to comment.