I don’t know about you, but my brain works differently when I’m not sitting at a desk.
I can write reclining in a chair (and often do). I can write sprawled across the floor. I can and do write in bed.
And more and more frequently, I write standing up.
Writing while standing is terrific for your health. I find it a very comfortable way to write, especially with my computer screen directly in front of my eyes and my arms at ninety degrees to let me type easily and naturally. Hemingway wrote standing with his typewriter on top of a dresser. I’ve made my own standing desk and you can find any number of them online to purchase, or you can make your own.
I find standing helps me to focus on the task, to be clear about my intention to write, not to surf the web and putter around as I might do sitting at my desk. When I stand to write I know that I need to actually finish the job in hand.
For today’s assignment, find a suitable place and write standing for at least twenty minutes. If you are unable to stand, change your position or your writing location. To the best of your physical ability change your bodily position and write.
Your subject for this assignment is up to you or you may write about: Why is today, and only today, the best day of the week?
While you write, relax and try not to fidget or shuffle your feet. If you are unable to stand for the full twenty minutes, take a break, stop your timer, and return when you can. After you’ve finished, spend a few minutes making notes about how you felt while standing. Did you feel relaxed, focused? What worked for you and what didn’t?
For bonus points, repeat this assignment every day for one week, making more observational notes after each standing session. At the end of your week, review your notes and decide if you want to make standing a part of your regular work and writing life.
Writing Assignment: Write Standing For Twenty Minutes by Randy Murray, unless otherwise expressly stated, is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 3.0 Unported License.