10 Comments

I knew there was a reason why I keep eating enough food to fuel an athlete to swim the channel whilst writing my book! It all makes sense now :)

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a) I'm worried that you're overthinking this, but b) this made me think of a blog post I long cherished by J Robert Lennon, who wrote it to put a bomb (or at least a whooppee cushion) under the 'just sit in a chair and write everyday' thing. His contention was that he tried that and all he got was a fat ass. (He's American: can't tell his backside from a quadruped, but an interesting novelist.) The extract from it I could find is at https://simonsylvester.com/2013/04/23/j-robert-lennon-the-ass-in-the-chair-canard/, and raises a different question. Does buttock size and upholstering impact on literary quality? So much to overthink, so little time...

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You''re very kind. Overthinking is the least of this entry's issues.

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I think it also explains why I’m better suited to short stories…

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This is apt. Until recently I’ve suffered from outbreaks of eczema on my buttocks, thanks to the old-fashioned dining chair that I perch on while at my desk (I like a hard chair for work). I decided eventually to fold a throw and place that on the seat. Problem solved! Until, that is, I had my second bout of abdominal surgery for the inguinal hernia I acquired from the Covid cough while sitting at that desk in 2022 (tip: don’t cough with crossed-legs). Since then my groin has been too uncomfortable to make the L shape required to work that way. Five minutes is fine; a whole morning, out of question. So for now I stand and do it that way, but as it’s mainly microediting, it still leaves the big questions unanswered: two months on, is this the way it will be now? And more worryingly, can I write entirely new work in this fashion? Will my already troublesome back cope? As you may imagine, I have discovered I have even more respect for the late Philip Roth for the years at his lectern. Easy to understand now why he chose to retire.

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Thanks for this, Toby Litt. You’ve cheered me up, as - by an ironic twist- I’ve had a stomach ache today, so wish I could detach that part of my anatomy 😅.

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Conversely, Pascal: ‘If I’d had more time I’d have written you a shorter letter.’

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I’m so glad you punched that person.

Writing really is exercise, not just for the mind, but it also makes your whole body react!

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May I introduce the concept of a non-human cushion? (No, not the cat. She's my editor.) An inorganic square of padded artificial comfort to relieve the bony numb-bums of the writing world. Or is it seen as a fatal weakness? 'Suffer for the cause', etc.

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I might invest in a standing desk…

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