{"id":2531,"date":"2011-01-10T07:49:35","date_gmt":"2011-01-10T13:49:35","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=2531"},"modified":"2011-01-10T10:01:13","modified_gmt":"2011-01-10T16:01:13","slug":"monday-motivation-changing-your-writing-perspective","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/01\/10\/monday-motivation-changing-your-writing-perspective\/","title":{"rendered":"Monday Motivation: Changing Your Writing Perspective"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><img decoding=\"async\" loading=\"lazy\" class=\"alignright\" title=\"Standing meercats.\" src=\"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/images\/meercats.jpg\" alt=\"\" width=\"250\" height=\"336\" \/>I&#8217;m writing this while standing up.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve worked many jobs in the past that required me to be on my feet all day or night.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve worked in warehouses, on loading docks, and as a landscaper; I&#8217;ve framed houses, worked on a farm, and in restaurants.<\/p>\n<p>But I&#8217;ve never written while standing up.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Why Stand Up?<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I&#8217;ve read things <a title=\"Link to a Scientific American article about the effects of sitting all the time.\" href=\"http:\/\/www.scientificamerican.com\/blog\/post.cfm?id=can-sitting-too-much-kill-you-2011-01-06\">like this<\/a> for awhile.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;ve always felt better when I&#8217;ve worked at jobs requiring me to stand. (I&#8217;ve never been a fan of being compressed in a chair all day, but that&#8217;s what I&#8217;ve done for years.)<\/p>\n<p>The routine:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Wake up and then sit right back down with breakfast while writing.<\/li>\n<li>Sit in my car on the ride to work.<\/li>\n<li>Sit all day at work.<\/li>\n<li>Sit in my car on the ride home after work.<\/li>\n<li>Cook dinner (standing, at least); sit down at the dining room table and eat.<\/li>\n<li>Sit down after dinner; check e-mail and write some more.<\/li>\n<li>The only real standing all day &#8212; going for a walk or short run; maybe play tennis.<\/li>\n<li>After that, more sitting &#8212; until lying down for bed&#8230;where I&#8217;d do it all over the next day.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>So I decided to try something new. I&#8217;ve set things up so I can stand up and write.<\/p>\n<p>I still have the option to sit. (I&#8217;ve always believed in moderation, and having worked at jobs where I&#8217;ve stood on concrete for 8-10 hours a shift, I know I don&#8217;t want to stand that much, either.) But having the option to change my perspective during the day is nice.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>I Think I&#8217;ll Like It<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>I wander around when I write.<\/p>\n<p>I get up and frequently walk around the apartment while thinking about the next scene in a story or part of an article.<\/p>\n<p>With a standing workstation, I have the ability to walk away and come back without standing or sitting. I know it may sound silly, but there&#8217;s something about it that just feels right to me.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>There Will Be Adjustments<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>The workstation&#8217;s not perfect. Right now it&#8217;s my laptop on a file crate on my desk. (I can stash the file crate away when not in use.)<\/p>\n<p>If I like standing while writing, I&#8217;ll need another monitor on top of the hutch on my desk so I&#8217;m not looking down and hurting my neck. I&#8217;ll also have to figure out a way to write notes while standing &#8212; right now the only thing elevated is my computer. (If I like this enough, I&#8217;ll consider a dedicated standing desk.)<\/p>\n<p>Right now, it&#8217;s something different &#8212; and the change of perspective is nice. I can&#8217;t slouch, and I feel more alert.<\/p>\n<p>I&#8217;m sure it&#8217;s psychosomatic, but there&#8217;s just something neat about standing up and writing.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Changing Your Perspective<\/strong><\/h2>\n<p>If you&#8217;ve been feeling a bit sluggish while writing, try changing something about where you write this month.<\/p>\n<p>Rearrange the room where you write, or consider a standing workstation.<\/p>\n<p>If you write outside your home, consider a new location to change your perspective; you might be amazed by how big a small change can feel.<\/p>\n<p>Now, if you&#8217;ll excuse me, it&#8217;s time to sit down and proofread this!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>I&#8217;m writing this while standing up. I&#8217;ve worked many jobs in the past that required me to be on my feet all day or night. I&#8217;ve worked in warehouses, on loading docks, and as a landscaper; I&#8217;ve framed houses, worked on a farm, and in restaurants. But I&#8217;ve never written while standing up. Why Stand [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2531"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2531\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2531"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2531"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2531"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}