Cassy's Corner: Are You Taking Care of Yourself?

Folks: Welcome again to our blog. Today we have a slightly different approach. Paula Sharon is joining us to talk about US. Yup, our bodies and what we need to be thinking about as we are writers. She, too, is a writer and knows her stuff. Paula spent nineteen years as a Physical Therapist Assistant in outpatient orthopedic and sports medicine centers before becoming a licensed massage therapist in 2005. Since then she has been in private practice and has offices in Manchester,CT and Tolland, MA. In addition, Paula has dedicated her life to the pursuit of health and wellness. She began figure skating at the age of ten and competed until turning pro at the age of eighteen and has taught power skating to hockey teams and learn to skate programs for over twenty five years. She earned a Black Belt in Shaolin Kempo Karate in 1995 and has studied homeopathic and naturopathic medicine independently and with the New England school of Homeopathy. She is a certified Personal Trainer through the National Federation of Trainers and is a certified yoga instructor. Her desire to treat individuals holistically and integrate natural health with western medicine motivated her to found ABSolute Fitness and Therapeutic Body Work in 2003. Paula believes that balance in all things is the key to health and wellness. To that end she has dedicated herself to improving the quality of life for individuals through education, exercise and Therapeutic Body Work.

She specializes in orthopedics and sports medicine so her focus is on injury prevention and treatment of orthopedic conditions. However her approach is a holistic healing model. She looks for muscle imbalances caused by activities of daily living, does spinal alignment through Muscle Energy Techniques and prescribes home exercise programs to address tightness, weakness and overuse issues--something we writers know a lot about!

Please join me in welcoming Paula and taking a moment to think about how we can improve our daily routines.

Cassy: Paula, we are writers. That means most of us sit for hours at a time and our fingers are flying over the keyboard. What are the main physical concerns you would see with that and what should we be considering to solve them?

Paula: The stresses on the musculoskeletal system with prolonged sitting and computer work host a myriad of problems. Most of these are related to postural muscle imbalances. The shoulders become rounded and the head shifts forward. Some muscles become weak and others shortened, causing chronic strain resulting in tightness, decreased mobility, and structural degeneration. Before you know it, you’re walking like granny. Over time, unless every effort is made to counteract these effects, a writer is likely to develop symptoms of carpal tunnel syndrome, chronic neck and back pain, headaches and the biggest problem for writers (in my opinion), weight gain from inactivity.

Movement is the key. For every hour you are at the computer, you need about ten minutes of exercise to counteract these effects. That means stand up, stretch, walk around, get some water—move. If you aren’t inclined to set a timer, then an hour of exercise first thing in the morning is your answer. Before you sit down for the day, take a brisk walk, lift weights, do yoga, clean house—whatever—just move vigorously for about an hour before you go to your computer. It’s either that or get up every hour and jump up and down in celebration of the fantastic prose you laid on the page. Consider yourself a literary athlete.

Cassy: Is there one type of exercise that is better than others for the types of problems writers face?

Paula: I highly recommend yoga. Find a gentle, beginner class that requires you to get out of the house at least twice a week and learn how to connect with your body. Yoga teaches awareness more than anything else and it will educate you to listen to your body. We writers are in our heads all the time. This leads us to ignore the natural signals that tell us to move, change position, drink enough water, eat something healthy and so on. Yoga will give you the tools to take better care of yourself. It will teach you proper posture and the stretches you need to do to maintain it. When was the last time you stopped in the middle of writing and reminded yourself to sit up straight and breathe deeply five times? This alone will make you feel—and write—better.

Be sure to find qualified instructors who don’t take the yoga-rexic approach. Power yoga, Ashtanga and Bikram are hardcore and best left to the young and ambitious souls who need intensity in their practice. A gentle Hatha yoga class should provide you with all you need to blend relaxation, stress relief and healthy exercise.

Try to add some type of aerobic exercise to your routine. Swimming, brisk walking or something fun like Zumba or Ball room dancing are all great ways to get your heart rate up. I’m not a gym rat, but I use a gazillion exercises so at least three times a week. I workout to a tevoed episode of Castle, Brothers and Sisters or Desperate Housewives. It keeps me entertained while I sweat and grunt for an hour.

Cassy: Saying we should get up and walk around every hour or so is fine, but often that just doesn't happen. What should we consider for our chairs, desks, computers and so on?

Paula: Many Physical Therapy offices offer ergonomic assessment. The cost would likely not be covered by insurance, but might be tax deductable. Generally, you want a comfortable, supportive chair that adjusts for height. Your feet should be flat on the floor, knees lower than hips. A lumbar support, pillow, or rolled towel behind the lower back can assist you in maintaining upright posture. Make sure your keyboard and monitor is straight in front of you and that your mouse, if you have one, is in close to your body. Mousing in itself can cause hand, wrist, shoulder, and neck problems, so make sure you aren’t reaching too far forward with your arm. The hands should be lower than the elbows and wrists supported if possible. If you are working on a lap top, this all becomes a bigger challenge.

Oh yeah, and get a massage now and then. A monthly massage can do more for your health maintenance than just about any other modality. It enhances your immune system, works out all those kinks from that prolonged sitting posture, and reduces stress better than any amount of alcohol. For the price of dinner and a movie, you can get several days or even weeks of relief—calorie free.

Cassy: I have a walkstation. I literally walk, very slowly, while I type. I can't do it all day long, but a few hours at a time are okay. Having said that, I have noticed that my concentration on my work has increased as I've needed to avoid thinking about walking. What is your experience with the walkstation, the large balls that take the place of chairs and other "tools" such as those?

Paula: I’m not familiar with the walk station, but in theory, it sounds like a great idea for short periods of time. Balance in all things is my motto. Many of these options you just have to try to see what works best for you. Unfortunately, you can spend a small fortune on finding the right pillow or techno-gizmo to make your writing life more comfortable.

As for physioballs—I love them. They are an inexpensive (20-30$ for a good one), convenient alternative to a standard office chair. It is a firm but shock absorbent surface, can be adjusted by inflation/deflation, and the best part is that you are exercising just by sitting on one. It requires the tiny stabilizing muscles all over your body to work to keep you steady, and you can’t slouch or the ball will roll. Of course this was a problem for some, so they came up with a stand to keep your ball stationary. I consider that cheating, but it serves its purpose so your seat doesn’t escape. Sitting on the ball has the added benefit of being a readily accessible exercise tool. You can bounce, wiggle and gyrate as needed to stave off the stiffness of being sedentary too long. There are a ton of great stretching, strengthening and stabilization exercises that are fun and easy to do. The down side is that you have to have a really good ergonomic set up for your computer in order for the ball to be an option. Lap tops and the ball are not a great fit. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing if it forces you to invest in a nice desk set up and keeps your body happy for the duration for your writing career.

Cassy: I am a Reiki Master. I have found that the Reiki has led me to paths, both privately and interpersonally that have been important in my development. You use a number of approaches to your healing work. How do you decide what is the best for the moment?

Paula: After having my hands on literally thousands of people over the twenty-five years I’ve practiced in the health care industry, it is clear to me that intuition is what bridges the gap between science and the healing arts. The human body, mind and spirit are an endless canvas to explore and we have barely uncovered the surface in our understanding of its complex workings.

My belief is that we each have an innate ability to heal ourselves. It simply requires that we find the precise tool at the right time that will facilitate healing. I’ve been fortunate to have the drive and opportunity to continue learning throughout my career, so I have an extensive “tool box”, if you will. The greatest gift any healer can have is an ability to listen to the body and decipher its message. My ears have gotten bigger over the years. I hear beyond the words that are said and hear with my eyes and hands to see the whole picture and assess what tools will be most effective. Relying greatly on my experience and education, I have come to trust my intuitive understanding of human beings in a way that leads me to what will best help in facilitating healing for that person. Part of that intuition is knowing my limitations and when to refer someone to another health care provider. I’ve developed an awesome holistic healing network of top notch integrative practitioners from Acupuncturists to chiropractors, naturopaths to osteopaths. I’m happy to see the shift toward cooperative medicine as this is the only way to treat all the needs of our clients.

Cassy: Okay, now to your writing. Tell us more about what you write.

Paula: I started writing seriously about four years ago. It began with a silly idea for a paranormal romance that blossomed into a 100,000 words in nine months. It was an ugly child, but I loved it in spite of its many flaws. After putting it out there to a few readers, I realized how much I didn’t know about writing. I learned a little about the craft and had another idea, so a second paranormal was born about seven months later. I had learned enough craft to improve in some areas, but not enough to know how to go back and fix my little darlings. I elicited some help from a retired high school English teacher who slapped me silly until I could write a decent sentence, and embarked on two more full length Romantic Suspense novels, none of which I have gone back to revise, but all of which are great stories (in my humble opinion). Someone once said that the first 500,000 words are just practice. I figure I’m pretty close to that, so I like to think I’ll be approaching publication soon.

When I started my current WIP last year, I zipped out about 60,000 words in three months and fell in love with my newest baby. This seemed a much more approachable piece with which to learn revisions. So I’ve spent a year revising, working with critique partners, entering contests and submitting to agents and editors. I have been shopping it as an 80,000 word mainstream novel with romantic elements. Assigning a specific subgenre has been a bit of a challenge. The story has romance, suspense and a heartrending heroine’s journey and could have a large crossover audience with older YA readers. I’m hoping that more publishers will tap into that market now that Harry Potter and Twilight readers are getting older and looking for more mature themes. Feedback from readers has been positive and agents and editors are curious, so now I have to wait and see if the writing stands out enough to give it a place in the market.

Cassy: How do you combine your writing with such a vigorously physical career. It must be challenging. What would a normal day for you be?

Paula: Until I become published, I consider myself a part time writer and typically spend 10-20 hours a week on writing, reading, researching, revising or otherwise mastering my craft. Being self-employed offers me a certain amount of flexibility, but business has been consistently busy (YEAH!), so I have to be disciplined about my schedule. Most weeks, I do 10-15 massages, see three or four personal training clients, and teach a couple of yoga classes. With drive time of two hours a day four or five times a week, it can make for some long days.

Being the boss has some advantages. I usually sleep in until 6:30 or 7:00. On my full days, Monday and Thursday, I leave the house at 8am and get home at 7:30pm, having seen five clients in a day. Those nights, I’m lucky to answer e-mails and take care of business. I reserve my Tuesdays off as writing days. I get up, have a glass of water, work out, walk my dog, eat breakfast (oatmeal with walnuts and fruit—yummy), and THEN I sit down to my computer with a cup of tea at about 9:00. If I’m tempted to forego exercise to answer the “dink” of an incoming e-mail, I convince myself that sitting down to the computer is my reward after my work is done and I have taken care of myself properly. I usually spend 6-8 hours writing, revising, taking online workshops--all things writerly. Wednesday I don’t have to leave the house until 2, so I repeat my Tuesday morning routine and have three or four hours to pick up where I left off. I have a full day on Fridays between seeing clients and running errands. I work out on Saturdays and Sundays (to fit in my 3-5X per week exercise requirement), and work every other weekend, so I try to balance clients with family and fun time and slide in a few more hours at the keyboard when I can. I’m sure all that will change once I’m published and am required to meet deadlines on a regular basis. The plan is to gradually shift to full time writing and part time hands on work. I figure I have about ten years to become a really good writer--just in time for early retirement.

I know it sounds crazy, but it’s a wonderful schedule. I’m fortunate that my sons are grown men now (28 and 22), and that my husband has lots of productive hobbies. I use my time wisely—listening to books on CD on the hour long drive to and from work. I always have a book to read in between clients, on my lunch hour, or if I get a cancellation. I write best in the morning or at night and often stay up until midnight brewing with creativity. Boredom is never a problem, my work is meaningful and fulfilling, and I have an amazing creative outlet. Add a couple of great kids, a furry Lab/Husky companion, and a sweet, supportive husband, and life is good.

Cassy: Do you have any tips for balancing writing, work, family and maintaining your health?

Paula: The common sense stuff, of course. Eat your fruits and veggies, drink plenty of water, exercise and write every day, and most of all--enjoy the journey. It’s easy to get caught up in our heads and forget to connect to our bodies, our spirit and our families. Balancing the demands is never easy, but staying clear about what our priorities are is huge. Make a list of your top five priorities and post them everywhere. They can change from day to day, so be flexible and be honest, (and don’t beat yourself up if family isn’t always at the top of the list—it does not make you a bad person.) Do the best you can from day to day and remember that if you don’t take care of yourself first, you can’t take care of others. Trust me, the nicest gift you can give your loved ones is a happy, healthy, you.

Cassy: What do you like to read (in your spare time), and what was the last book you read?

Paula: I read all kinds of romance—from paranormal to historical, romantic suspense to romantic comedy. I also like to pick up mainstream fiction occasionally to get a sense of literary trends. My favorite authors are Diana Gabaldon, (you gotta love Jaime Fraser—a six-foot- four, red headed Highlander), and Barbara Kingsolver, (PRODIGAL SUMMER was a work of art.) I’m currently reading DEMON KEEPERS by Jessica Andersen and I just finished Kristan Higgins, FOOLS RUSH IN (I’ve worked my way backward through her books.) I must say that it is becoming increasingly difficult to read for pleasure. Learning the revision process has made me a much more critical and less patient reader. With so little free time, I make the most of my reading and choose books and authors I know I’ll enjoy and learn from.

Cassy: Paula, thank you so much for joining Mysteries and Margaritas. I know there will be comments and questions for you. I say that as I’m rotating my shoulders and stretching out my back.