Smoking -- Yuck?

Boy oh boy it has definitely been a while since I flicked a lighter and brought the flame to the tip of a stick of hazardous yet delicious nicotine. Truth be told it hasn't been that hard. The first week was the worst, the first month I wanted to kill a few people (actually I don't think that has to do with the lack of nicotine in my body, I just really wanted to kill people, ha!) Now I'm coming up on my 7 month smoke free and I actually really feel good about it. I still crave them, especially after a really good meal or when I first get into the car to leave the house but it gets better throughout the day.

So being smoke free is a good thing? I guess I would have to say yes, but I won't admit it out-loud. Till next time... Keep your smoke to yourself.

I Am A Writer?

I am a writer, words defining my life
A page at length, each word significant
I am a writer, some have told me so
Hard to believe though.. Am I?
A story that pours from my life
Blood running rapid and wild
Muscles constricting around a pencil
Eyes, watery staring at lead bleeding pages
Emotions permeating intensely
Dreams raging, but laying dormant
I am a writer, sources combining me
Dictionaries re-defining me
Thesauruses symbolizing me
I am a writer, complex yet simple
Complex in everything I want
Yet simple in what it is that I have
Understanding, yet contemplating
Understanding of human nature
Contemplating a future of success
Cherishing each word and symbol
Periods ending thoughts
Colons breaking lines in two
Symbolic of tattered hearts
I am a writer, consumed but fierce
Consumed by the want, fierce in ambition
Unsure, terror filled, but I am a writer.

Now that we are approaching the end of 2010, it will soon be time for our resolutions (or now time for pre-resolutions, as the case may be).

And as you cast your eye toward self-improvement, might I suggest one of the important fundamentals to the healthy and productive writer: exercise.

Not only because writing is a solitary pursuit, that writers sometime need the occasional mood-lift while pondering the depths of the human condition, and because we want to keep writing as long as Louis Auchincloss.

No. Not just those reasons.

Do it for the creativity boost!

I can't quantify this. I don't know if it's been proven by science (Livia?). I don't know if it's the endorphins talking. All I know is that when I'm stuck on a plot challenge or can't think of where things go next, I exercise. And it's amazing how it unlocks the brain.

And even from a macro sense, I find myself more productive and happier during weeks where I exercise. The ideas and words just tend to flow better.

Am I alone on this? Does exercise help your creativity?

I think Nathan Bransford (giving credit where credit is due!) has the right idea. Like any craft we need to exercise to keep our brains well lubricated! What are some of your exercises as a writer?