Freestyle Writing for Years = Joy

Photo Credit: S. R. Karfelt

2008/2009/2010/2011 - I wrote, and then I wrote some more.  Mid-2008 I graduated from pencils and notebooks to a used laptop.  It came with Open Office.Org Writer and that is what I used.  Oh, a nice new version of MSWord sat unopened nearby - but I was far too busy spending every spare moment writing than to waste time installing new software!  Perhaps I didn't do anything the easy way over these years, I just did it. 

Photo Credit: S. R. Karfelt

Fortunately for me I had the type of job that allowed me to make my own schedule and, when I wasn't traveling, I could easily work from home and then switch over to what I really needed to do - and that is write some more.  When I did travel, I took my project with me and worked on it after hours.  When I was at the office, I took it with me and wrote at lunch and on breaks.  I took a laptop and time-lines and index cards with me even on vacation, where I wrote scrunched into an uncomfortable chair underneath a mosquito netting (went on a lot of fishing vacations, hubby knew my main focus was on my laptop anyway so I had no objection to even the most remote mosquito infested locations.  I don't even fish but my mind was already in my happy place).

Photo Credit: S. R. Karfelt

On those rare occasions when I did step away from my writing?  I was usually exercising, trying to keep the body happy for long stints of typing/sitting.  I wonder if other writers have suffered unspeakable writer ailments?  Such as bruising in odd places from sitting on a wooden bench for over a year (I like to think it was the brillance of my story that kept me from noticing just how very uncomfortable that was).  Do other writers completely change their diet and exercise habits when they're working?  Four years of doing what I feel I was meant to do, along with eating good (and taking up jogging) has made me feel so good I am firmly convinced that I am one of the happiest people on the planet.