Walking Into Words

 

Writers Need To Walk


I walked this morning in the autumn sunshine. I walked when the morning air was at its freshest. The world was calm in every direction I looked. I walked keenly. I walked further and faster than I have been walking in recent times. 

My capacity for walking is gradually returning after a year of less than optimal health. I am returning to where I want to be. My spirit has been heightened by my actions. 

 We know when we walk, our hearts pump faster and our brains and other organs get more blood and oxygen. Scientific evidence exists indicating this helps both memory and attention. Researchers have also discovered walking has a positive impact on creativity.  This makes walking pretty important for those of us who need to write.

Some people are content to merely walk. I am not one of them. I monitor my walking. Time, distance, speed, frequency are important considerations. I also consciously choose a different route on each walking occasion. Variety is good. Where we walk is important.  My phone provides essential walking data as well as enabling me to capture images to inform my writing ideas. It doesn’t drive my fitness, but it most definitely informs it.
Nunn's Walk that runs beside the bay.

I know how important walking is to me in relation to health, but I also appreciate its importance to me as a writer. It provides a vital connection between my inside world and the broader world that surrounds me. 

I use my walking time to rehearse my words, clarify my thinking, make observations, clear the accumulated rubbish inhibiting thought, heighten my senses and harvest new ideas. I might rehearse the words of a poem bouncing around in my head. I am intent on locking words in. Words too important to forget. I may identify what it is I want to say about an issue, or play out a scene, or think about a character. Because I listen to music as I walk, lyric lines sometimes suggest ideas too.

The view over Fisherman's Beach, Mornington


Sometimes, something I encounter while walking triggers a memory- the sound of parrots flitting overhead, the sight of the sapphirine sea, the sweet smell of roses in a garden, something on the ground. Writers and walkers must be keen observers. 



So much can entertain my thinking as I walk. Walking offers me that essential thinking time necessary to write with intention. It is an important element in my pre-writing time. Upon my return, I am primed to write. My internal seas are becalmed by walking. It is said that if a writer wants to be out there in terms of their work, they must be out there in the world. I love how one aspect of my life continues to complement another. There exists in these actions, an essential co-dependency.

A Flowering Gum Tree

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