In conversations with several writer friends lately, I've been comparing notes about what kind of energy it takes out of them to sit down day after day and write their hearts out -- which as far as I've concerned is the only way to do it.
Every one of them spoke about how tired and hungry this get by the process. It's a little counter-intuitive at first. After all, it's not like we are engaged in heavy physical labor. We can all appreciate why a farmer or a house painter or a moving company worker must be bone tired by the end of the workday.
In contrast, writers sit, stare, think, and key in notes. Note by note, they work to compose. Here a certain word; there a phrase; over there, a sentence that squeaks as painfully as nails on a blackboard; back here, a word puddle as comforting as a bubble bath.
When it is going well, we take a break, make a lunch, and get back at it. When it is going badly, our shoulders and necks begin to hurt. We get all bunched up with pain. Either way, our hunger never slacks. The neurological processes involved must consume a lot of energy.
Food in, words out. That would be on a good day...
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