We interrupt this book launch craziness to mark a kind of cool anniversary, of sorts. 
Treadmill desk. Messy bookshelves optional.
In 2010 I pretty thoroughly tore the miniscus in my left knee [which, up until then, had been my GOOD knee]. Unable to run at all and waiting for surgery, I bought a treadmill and a plastic surf-shelf and started walking for an hour here and there while I worked. The goal wasn’t for exercise [I’d get back to running after the surgery scars healed up], but more or less to prevent as much ‘writer’s butt’ as I could.
Well, I started walking on March 18th, 2010. I’ve kept a record of the mileage since then. I try to remember to add my runs in, and dog walks, too, but regular daily walking-around doesn’t get figured in. I keep an Excel file of the distance and time and date, and any other stuff that I can fit in a few characters. I generally add up my totals on New Year’s Eve, just to see how the year went.
My initial goal was to walk [virtually] across Canada, and I’ve done that. Five years on from the knee surgery, I’ve hit 8802 km walking.
I guess my point here is that the walk-working has become part of my life. I know standing desks are in these days, but I wouldn’t trade mine in. I find standing for long periods makes my legs hurt [a throw-back to all those years working at The Bay while in university, maybe?]
I’ve found I can’t really walk while in full writing mode, because I go to a place in my head that makes it not really safe to allow the body to perambulate unsupervised. But a lot of my work is answering email, catching up on reading, scanning stuff. At the moment, I’m doing the final read-through of the FINDING FRASER manuscript, and as I do this aloud, it’s a good thing to do while walking. I’m typing this blog post while I walk, as a matter of fact.
Okay, I just got off to take this picture for you. Can you see the computer on the plastic surf-shelf?
So, to sum up — I don’t walk fast, and I don’t walk very long [rarely more than an hour a day], but the miles add up. I feel better for it, and if it’s an option for you — I HIGHLY recommend a walking desk!
What do YOU do to avoid writer’s butt? Share!
More soon…
~kc
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