Occupational Hazards: Writing Better

 

Writers are slothful creatures by habit. We’re not particularly lazy, but we’re often excellent procrastinators at work and we’re usually late for anything that requires our presence. We also tend to harm our own productivity and speed with one simple fault: we slouch.

Take me, for example. Any website on the best posture for maximum typing speed and comfort tells me I should have both feet firmly on the floor, my back straight, and my arms resting at my sides. I should be lifting my hands to a little less than 90 degree angles from my elbow to place them in the perfect position on my keyboard.

Well, I don’t. And I don’t know any writer who does. Professional typist, maybe, but a writer? An author? No way. We slouch. I’m currently half-slouched at my desk, sitting on a hard kitchen chair with one leg crossed over the other. I’ve dropped my left shoulder a little and raised my right shoulder slightly to compensate for the fact that I tend to have my keyboard set on an angle. (My mousepad doesn’t fit on my keyboard tray if everything is neatly placed.) I have to reach for my mouse, too, because I don’t like it to be too close. And when I type fast and hard on a subject I’m really getting into, I tend to lean forward, focusing all my attention on the screen.

Bad, bad, bad.

When I stand up, my shoulder aches. My right arm tingles. So does a spot just to the right of my left shoulder blade, like a small circle of numbness. The blood rushes back to my left leg, now that it’s uncrossed, and my back is sore.

The good part is that I no longer have a numb, cold right hand like I did last year when my desk was in a different part of the room – I was giving myself repetitive stress injuries because I was working at an angle so that my back wasn’t to the open space. I couldn’t feel my hand after 15 minutes of typing and had to wear a wrist brace to work for three weeks. Fun stuff, huh?

I’m not alone. Writers, by nature, need to be comfortable to write. What we believe is comfortable are the worst positions possible, and our plan of being comfortable to write better backfires. Productivity just isn’t as efficient as it could be.

When we sit poorly, we can’t type as fast. We can’t work as easily. We get cramped, sore, tired, and achy. We’ll also end up with all sorts of problems later on down the road that may jeopardize the very career that landed us those medical issues in the first place.

Joy. Occupational hazards for writers.

If I took the pains to adjust my position to sit properly (and buy a better chair so that my kitchen set can go back to being whole), I’d be able to work faster and longer. When the day is done, I wouldn’t feel like I’d just been run over by a truck. I could enjoy my career longer, probably well into my 80s (I’m planning to live to 136). It makes sense for writers to realize that their job does not just require skills and ability; it requires specific body positions for efficiency and effectiveness.

Think about it: If you worked in a factory and the way you worked slowed down the company’s production and sales, you’d need to adjust your methods to obtain maximum output. Writing’s the same.

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