The Dangers of Writing*

Sportsmen have long accepted injuries as part and parcel of their trade. Even touring musicians have had their fair share of incidents on stage (usually falling off it) – think The Edge and Dave Grohl in recent years.

Unlike their sporting counterparts, and to their eternal credit, neither of the above performers were seen rolling around in agony following their pretty serious injuries. Grohl, in particular, proved the legend he is by living out another showbiz legend: the show must go on.

Writer injuries hardly compare.

As this is a writer’s blog, I must now give the above a tenuous writerly link - and it’s thus: are we as writers exempt from the fear of injury and able to ply our trade without having to take a few weeks off to get fixed up?

Perhaps not. Eye strain is a serious and real problem for those forced to stare at screens for hours on end to satisfy our need to write.

Then there’s posture problems caused by spending those same hours on end on our asses (how time flies when the creative juices flow).

But apart from the odd back, arm, hand, wrist or shoulder ache or attack of cramp, there’s little else.

And that’s one of the worst (but also the best) things about being a writer. You’re unlikely to come to any physical harm doing it. There's very little danger, as long as you get in some exercise and don’t spend hours and hours at your desk. So being a writer and the act of writing isn't a very interesting pursuit. It's hardly worth writing home about, let alone writing a novel about, although that hasn't stopped me.

None of the injuries we can sustain plying our trade enables us writers to hold a candle to musicians and sportsmen in the injury stakes. All we can do is use our talent to string sentences together to express our eternal respect for performers with the talent to get out there and put their bodies on the line for their art.

*Jon Lymon would like to make it clear that no fingernails were broken in the typing of this article.