Ergonomics for the Healthy Writer and Faroween!

Guess what? I'm a participating author in Our World or Others: A Faroween Scavenger Hunt October 19 - 29! Visit the FaRoFeb website on October 19 to choose your quest and compete for a chance to win incredible prizes including giftcards, paperbacks, ebooks, and more! There are six main prize packs as well as some bonus quests and games.

Everyone who completes one of the quests will win something! This is for anyone who loves reading fantasy romance, paranormal romance, and urban fantasy romance. Can't wait to see you there!

Our topic at the SFF Seven this week is "Tools of the Trade Ergonomic Edition." Because, let's face it, writers are notorious for experiencing various physical pains. Comes of sitting for hours everyday, hunched over a keyboard or paper (writing and reading!), forgetting to move but never forgetting those important snacks that keep our brains going. So, what do I do? I walk!

Yes, I have a walking desk with a treadmill, and have had one for nearly ten years now. Best investment I ever made! The current treadmill is from iMovr and goes from 5mph to 2.5mph. I usually walk between 1.5 and 2.2mph - the variation is really important! I have a hydraulic desk, the same one all these years, originally made by GeekDesk, which I can adjust to allow me to sit, stand, or walk. The minute height adjustments are particularly great, allowing me to have my forearms and wrists flat on the desk, my back straight, and my monitor at eye-level. I also vary them slightly from day to day and even hour to hour, so my body won't solidify into the same position for too long. 

No more butt in chair, hands on keyboard, people - get that writer body moving!

 

What Jeffe Has to Have in Order to Write

Greetings from a gorgeous autumn in New Mexico!

This week at the SFF Seven we're talking about preconditions - what must be true before you go to write.

I changed it from "sit to write" because I don't sit - I work at a walking desk. So, that's one thing for me, is that I'm happiest standing or walking to write. I've gotten so sitting to write doesn't work very well. In fact, I'm super happy to have hit on a solution of a portable tripod and desktop to make a standing desk for a retreat I'm going on after Thanksgiving. I can stand to write! Perfect solution.

Otherwise... 

It used to be that I had fairly elaborate rituals for getting into writing. I had LOTS of preconditions. I had to be sitting at a certain desk (not my work-from-home desk) at a specific time of day (morning) listening to a particular soundtrack (The Mission). I even had a favorite blue jersey dress I had to be wearing. When my husband, with considerable exasperation, pointed out that the dress had more holes than fabric, he countered my plaintive argument that I needed it, by saying "the writing comes from you, not the dress."

That's really stuck with me. I remind myself of that truth often. 

(And I put the dress in the rag pile.)

All of those rituals helped me in the beginning, when I really needed help establishing a writing habit. But now I know they were just things to help me along. Because the writing comes from me. 

The only precondition I have? Myself, present and accounted for.

 

Jeffe's Writing Space

This week at the SFF Seven, we're sharing our writing workspaces and current TBR list.

Why both of these somewhat disparate things? I have no idea. My TBR isn't physical (mostly). I keep my inventory of unread books on a - you guessed it! - spreadsheet. There are currently 323 books on it. 

I know. 

I've been working my way through it, really I am, but even my determined efforts end up being like fighting the hydra. For example, I've had Juliet Marillier's Daughter of the Forest on my To-Be-Read "pile" since April 19, 2017. (Thank you, Amazon for that purchase date.) I finally started reading it on February 12, 2022. LOVED IT. So, what did I do? Yes, bought the entire six-book Sevenwaters series. I'm now 60% through book six, Flame of Sevenwaters. 

 As for my writing space, I have a dedicated office that is ALL MINE. You can see it above. We got an unexpectedly heavy snow last night, so it's a darkish morning and you can see the snow out the window. I love my big window as I can watch the birds and other visiting wildlife (and they are merry), and I can see all the way down the Galisteo Basin to the Ortiz Mountains and Sandia Peak. My desk is hydraulic, so I can adjust it for sitting, standing, or walking, with my treadmill below. 

I used to have my framed book covers on the walls, but I realized I didn't like looking at stuff that represented past efforts. So, I took them all down and hung art that's inspiring to me. The poster over the window is one I made that says, "What would you write if you weren't afraid?"

And there you have it!

Writer Fashion: Contradiction in Terms?

     

This week's oxymoronic topic is Writer fashion. Is it a contradiction in terms?

Okay, okay - that's me being a smartass. The subtitle actually asks: What do you – or don’t you! - wear to write?

I don't know about you guys, but I live in a house with a lot of windows, because I like to be able to see out. (On a total aside, I think people either like to see out of their houses or worry about being seen. I like to see out, but I'm also not gonna walk around naked.) I've been working from home for more than fifteen years, longer than I've been a fulltime writer. And, now that I am a fulltime writer, I work from home exclusively. I don't like to write in cafes, etc. And my work day consists of podcasting, actual writing, and business peripheral to writing, including volunteering for SFWA. 

All of this is to say that what I wear to write is pretty much... what I wear, full stop.

It used to be, when I had the day job, that I switched out what I wore, to help delineate writing time from day job time. Now it's all writing time! 

But I don't wear pajama pants, nor do I do the "Pantsless" thing. (Frankly I don't get when women join in with the guys talking about going pantsless - isn't this just a dress? Maybe it depends on how long your shirt is...) 

Anyway, I write while walking at a treadmill desk, so that drives most of my daily wardrobe decisions. My good walking shoes - and fave socks - are a must. Also I get warm after a few hours of walking. So, I wear a lot of sundresses. My favorite wardrobe item, to the point of being my uniform, is the Hary Dary original short strap dress, D12. In fact, I just bought TEN of them in various fabrics. Those combined with a cardigan or light jacket, along with various leggings and tank tops, form the bulk of what I wear, day in and day out.

Is it fashionable? Hard to say! But it works for me. 

Also, THE DRAGON'S DAUGHTER AND THE WINTER MAGE is out now!! Plus the rest of the Heirs of Magic series is on sale for a few more days! :-) 

     

Kicking That Sitting Habit

Happy 2021 everyone!! 

First things first: If you haven't yet read Book One in my Forgotten Empires trilogy, THE ORCHID THRONE ebook is on sale for only $2.99 all month. This is a great opportunity to start the series, as Book Three, THE PROMISED QUEEN, comes out in May!

We're kicking off a new year here at the SFF Seven and we're talking writer fitness. If sitting is the new smoking, what are the perils of a sedentary art and how do you counteract it?

That means it's time for my regular evangelistic sermon on the many virtues of my walking desk!! 

Yes, I have one - a hydraulically height-adjustable desk with a treadmill beneath - and have had for eight years now. Wow. Amazing even to me! You can read about my grand opening (with pics) here, from February 2013. I also have a post from one-year later here - which includes video of my cat Jackson walking on the belt! 

Do I love my walking desk? 

Yes, yes I do!

In 2020, I walked over 2,000 miles on the thing. On working days (5 days/week) I walk 6-10 miles, depending on the day. I absolutely walk while I write, and I believe the trance-induction of walking helps me enter that ideal state of concentrated creative flow. 

CW: weight loss.

While I'm relatively slender, I'm also someone who struggles with weight gain. I'm post-menopausal and my daddy's side of the family tends toward obesity and type II diabetes. I also really love wine. Prior to 2013, I was facing steady, incremental weight gain and increasing blood pressure. Between writing and my then day job, I sat all day long/

Eight years later, my blood pressure is down, I'm holding the body fat and weight reasonably steady, and it's gotten so I'm restless if I sit for too long. This is why I'm a total evangelist for the walking desk. It's seriously the BEST investment in my health that I've ever made. It's become especially pointed for me in the last year, because I have two writer friends who developed blood clots in their legs from sitting too much, both of which turned septic and required expensive surgeries and months of recovery to correct.

So, I know it's a major financial investment. I have a Geek Desk Standing Adjustable Desk and a LifeSpan Under-Desk Treadmill. I know it's not cheap. BELIEVE ME - eight years later I'm on my fourth treadmill and I KNOW it's not cheap! But, I am also a firm believer in paying for prevention. I'd rather invest in my pricey set-up than pay hundreds of thousands in surgery or medications.

Amen. 

Why I'm Against Butt-in-Chair, Hands-on-Keyboard

I caught Isabel mid-yawn on this one. What I get for disturbing the cozy winter's nap with my photo-taking. She - like all cats - is the poster child for this week's topic, which is balancing writing with physical and emotional health.

There's a catchphrase that writers like to pass around, about maintaining productivity: BICHOK, or Butt-in-Chair, Hands-on-Keyboard. I get that it's a metaphor, meaning that you get writing done by actually writing, but it's one I quibble with because I'm so against the sitting-down part.

Four FIVE! years ago (I just checked, wow) almost exactly, I invested in a treadmill desk. I'm now on my second treadmill - hydraulic desk is still going strong! - and I consider it the best investment I ever made. It takes a *long* time to really ramp up and get in shape for extended walking like this. Even if you think you're in great walking shape, this kind of conditioning takes a while to build as the steadiness and extended times are very different. In 2017, I walked 2,537 miles. A whole lot of that was while writing. I think this the best thing a writer can do for their health, full stop. The only downside is that now I really hate sitting and feel like I can't write as well sitting down.

As for emotional health, I'm blessed with happy chemistry, so I don't struggle with depression or anxiety as some do. I am always working on tweaking my process and work days to maximize productivity, however.

In 2016, I tried to do too much. It was my first year writing full time, and a few things happened. I started writing five days a week instead of six, which compressed that effort into the five days. This isn't a problem except that I really amped up my daily wordcount goals. I had some high wordcount months - in December 2015, I had my highest month ever at 75,000 words - but then I'd have crash periods that followed. The upshot is that my overall wordcount fell off considerably in 2016

In 2017, I worked to remedy this by lowering my daily wordcount goals, but going for greater consistency. As you can see, 2017 words came up again nicely. For 2018, I'm trying to improve on that, and I'm trying something new: incorporating rest periods after finishing drafting a book. 

I've found that I have a down cycle after I've finished the draft of a book. Even if I try to write something else, I don't make much progress on it and I get annoyed with myself. It finally occurred to me to try honoring that rest period - which I seem to take whether I plan on it or not - and program in the down time.

So, this week I turned in book two of The Lost Princess Chronicles, EXILE OF DASNARIA. (These titles may change - more on THAT later.) Because the holidays and the flu got me all off schedule, I worked Sunday, too, finishing late on Monday.

Tuesday, I took the day entirely off, cleaning the house and doing the laundry, de-Christmasing - all the stuff that I'd let pile up. Good purging. Wednesday, I caught up on business stuff, including stuff about the aforementioned title changes. I also dorked around and watched a lot of YouTube videos I don't normally allow myself to squander time on. Thursday I got another book into shape - which I'm 99% sure I'm calling SHOOTING STAR - and sent that to my freelance editor. That just took some tweaking, no real creative investment.

On Friday, I took my car to be washed and waxed - a time investment I rarely indulge in (and my car unfortunately shows it) - and then spent time showing out of town guests around Santa Fe. 

This is me up on Canyon Road with SFF editor Ellen Datlow and fantasy writer Nnedi Okorafor. Ellen is in town for this event at George R.R. Martin's Cocteau Theater. If you're in the neighborhood, you should come! And Nnedi is here to meet with George on her new project that HBO optioned from her book WHO FEARS DEATH and GRRM is executive producing. We had a great time lunching and shopping, which then extended into cocktails and dinner with GRRM and bunch of other folks working in SFF publishing and production.

So, it was a really lovely week. Monday I'll work on page proofs of PRINCESS OF DASNARIA (again, name change pending), which is another non-creative task. Then I'll spend a few days on a new project before launching next week into drafting a new novel. It's feeling like a good thing to do. I'm feeling remarkably relaxed and replete with time.

Also, my house is clean.

Where I Do My Best Writing

Our topic this week, as the post title implies, is where we do our best writing.

Mine is, as always, at my treadmill desk.

Sometimes I mix it up, especially now that I write full time. If I'm tired of being at home, I'll go to The Teahouse, where they give me amazing tea and let me sit for hours in peace. Sometimes I sit outside.

But, when all is said and done, I write best as I'm walking, in my lovely office with the great view. this is what it looks like when I'm standing at my desk, as I type this.

Those are the Ortiz Mountains at the front, with rounded Sandia Peak to the right and behind, and the sweep of Galisteo Basin between.

In 2015, I walked 1,235 miles on my treadmill and wrote 564,847 words. That's about 458 words/mile, which seems pretty cool to me. I set the goal of 1,500 miles this year and have (as of today) already hit 1,785.

Some answers to Frequently Asked Questions:

Yes, I really can type while I walk. I'm walking at 1.0 mph as I type this.

I walk anywhere from 0.5 mph to 2.2 mph.

I average 6.5 miles/day, figured over the year.

I got my hydraulic desk from Geek Desk and the treadmill from TreadDesk. Both have been great on my very rare service issues. Considering I've had this set up coming on four years, that's pretty great!

Love it! Best investment I ever made.