Thursday, September 15, 2005

speaking in lowercase

writing is hard -- on your body.
after years of sitting in front of the computer, i've developed arthritis in my neck and shoulder. not unusual for a writer. it's taken me several more years to come up with promising strategies for getting around the pain. the biggest thing was to get rid of my desktop. with a laptop, you can change positions throughout the day. stand, sit, lie down, get the keyboard as close as possible. i'm not left-handed, but i learned to use a mouse with my left hand. and i quit using the cap key!! every movement you can eliminate helps. and if you haven't yet developed problems, take care of yourself now.

5 comments:

Kelly (Lynn) Parra said...

I use desktop and laptop. I know I'll probably develop problems, but right now I'm just dealing with eye strain. Argh!

Bonnie Godbee said...

which is why i rarely punctuate and capitalize.
My right shoulder is permanently broken from a incident with my father in childhood, I get horrible pains in it. The more i type in a day, the more it throbs.
and because it's my right arm and i'm right handed, it's really bad. i dont' type "properly" anyway and i sit at an angle that not only is bad posture and bad on my shoulder and wrist, it also leads to "pot belly" i need a puter that hangs from your neck so i can exercise while indulging in my addiction

anne frasier said...

yeah, sitting on your butt all day isn't healthy. i used to dream about ways to put a laptop on a treadmill. now i'm too lazy for that. :D

mixing it up is important. don't go to that default position every time you sit down.

Jerilyn Dufresne, author said...

I'm okay at work, but at home it's a little more uncomfortable. I do have a laptop as a third computer (can you believe the decadence?). But it's not wireless and is a little klunky. I use it for my travels. And I often type on it in bed, or on an ottoman in a hotel room. Unless the fleet's in, of course. Then I'm otherwise occupied. Jer

anne frasier said...

forgot to mention that unless i'm sitting on a couch that's really deep, i usually put my laptop on a bed tray -- otherwise the screen is way too low.