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I haven’t started a topic in forever guys… I know I’ve not been on here much. I haven’t abandoned you, I promise. Life though. 😛
I just wanted to take a minute to talk about a not-so-pretty-nor-poetic aspect of the writerly way— writer’s cramp. I’ve struggled with this myself ever since I wrote my first four books out by hand in spiral-spine notebooks with countless pencils and all in the span of two years. (Hint: the books were shorter back then. :P)
So I’ve done a lot of research on writer’s cramp, and I wanted to share my findings with you. First and unfortunately, once you get writer’s cramp bad, it never really goes away. So yes. I still have it. And especially in cold weather, it really bugs me. But there are steps to prevention and for alleviation.
For prevention, take breaks. Ten minutes of writing, pause, do a few hand-stretches, get up and get a glass of water, talk to your little siblings, go back to work. (This is also good for resting your eyes.) And… don’t write out your stories by pencil in spiral-spine notebooks. Just don’t. Learn to type. It’s well worth it in the end.
Also, get an… what do you call ’em, exercise balls? Those little foamy balls that you squeeze… um… frustration balloons? Something like that? 😛 Strengthen your hands and wrists by taking turns doing so many squeezes per hand, daily. Five minutes is all it takes. I try and remember to do it while I’m reading my Bible in the morning. Something mindless to do with my hands while I concentrate.
Hand stretches and exercises are great for writer’s cramp whether you have it or are trying to avoid it. A few good stretches are as follows:
.Spider on the mirror doing push-ups. You’ve probably done this one just for fun. Place the fingertips of both hands together to create the illusion of a mirror-image and push your fingers together, then relax; contraction, relaxation, contraction, relaxation, so it really does look like a spider doing push-ups on a mirror.
.Prayer
Press your hands flat against each other in the ‘praying’ position, and keeping your palms firmly pressed together at all times lower your wrists as far as they will go towards your waist. This stretches the wrist and palm muscles. The muscles of the palm, incidentally, are what get cramped worst in writer’s cramp. It can often feel like they are thin and rapidly deteriorating, causing the nerves and bones alike to feel tangled and sore and unmanageable.
.Vertical Bend (I am totally making these names up as I go people; don’t ask me if this is what they’re really called. 😛 )
Extend one arm out at shoulder-height, allow hand to go limp. Take other hand and bend first hand inward towards your body as far as it will go. Don’t be afraid to bend hard. It’ll hurt, but it’s good for you.
.Finger Stretch
Set your fingertips on a flat surface and splay them out as far as you can without touching your palm to the surface. (Best for the surface to be the floor or a low table). Bear down hard with the weight of your body until your fingers are splayed out and tense, and you can feel the muscles stretching. Remain in that position for twenty seconds.Take care of your hands, people. They’re your livelihood. And trust me— if you don’t have writer’s cramp yet, YOU WILL BE ETERNALLY GRATEFUL YOU TOOK THE EFFORT TO KEEP IT AWAY. *in best advertiser’s voice* I’m stuck with it. But you don’t have to be.
Oh yeah. Those exercise balls. I used to love mine… that is, until it exploded when I squeezed it too hard. #stronghands
@The-Bean ha! Yeah, that would be kinda counterproductive. 😛
I’m not exaggerating. It really exploded. That’s the only time I had to vacuum-clean my computer. I don’t know what that substance was, something like potato starch. Oh what a mess.
@kate-flournoy One thing I want to ask… what is writer’s cramp in the 1st place?
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@Dragon-Snapper basically a heavy, chronic hand cramp caused by perpetual repetitive motion. The motion of holding/moving a pencil… over… and over… and over… even typing can give it to you, though that’s less common. The muscles get weary of being frozen in one position for too long and just seize up. It’s not pleasant. 😛
@kate-flournoy Ah, yes! I know what you mean now. At first I thought you meant a writerly cramp we get in our heads when we write too much or something weird like that. Which goes to prove my confusion “How are stress balls and hand exercises going to help us?” I understand a lot better now, thanks!
☀ ☀ ☀ ENFP ☀ ☀ ☀
@Dragon-Snapper haha, yes. It’s a muscle cramp, not a mental cramp. XD
@The-Bean I broke one of those stress balls once, too! Mine had gel inside. Colored gel. And I broke it on our couch, which was fantastic. Now I don’t play with those things anymore, because I always have a desire to pop them (it’s the same urge that makes me want to pop bubble wrap). @kate-flournoy, Silly putty is my go-to if I need to do something with my hands.
YA Fantasy Writer
Obsessive Character Namer
Find me at hisinstrumentblog.wordpress.com-tries all these out as I’m reading and gets weird looks from my family-
@the-bean That sounds messy, but cool. I wish I could explode a stress ball. *sighs at my impossibly weak hands and arms*
@writefury -what is that picture you have as your avatar. It looks like Bad News pulling Wolfy’s jacket. Is it?
What I do for writer’s cramp is i sit on my hands. Weird, I know, but it somehow loosens up the muscles.ENFP - "One must be sane to think clearly, but one can think deeply and be quite insane."
@Anne-of-Lothlorien probably what it does is warm the muscles, which does loosen them. Stretches really are best, though, because they make your hands stronger and thus they cramp less easily.
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