Writing Excuses 8.8: Writing and Personal Health

Robison Wells joins us again to talk about personal health, and his brother Dan joins us from the couch where (as of this recording session) he's suffering from the recent removal of a body part. Eeew! We start by talking with Rob about his well-chronicled mental health issues, how he dealt with them, and how he used them to inform his writing. We ask the obvious question -- are there more mental illnesses to be found among creative folk, or are we all under confirmation bias? Mary and Howard chime in with their own mental wellness struggles, and we talk about the importance of letting other people know how we're feeling, and why we might be feeling that way. We also talk about our physical health, and how important it is for us as writers to keep track of that. Dan, Brandon, and Mary all have standing desks, and Brandon's is affixed to a treadmill (and as a result of this 'cast, Howard tried a standing desk for a month and but then gave up on it.) This episode doesn't offer much in the way of crunchy, nuts-and-bolts writing advice, but hopefully it helps some of you deal with the issues that you now know some of the professionals suffer from as well. Those Pictures You Wanted: Howard promised to get pictures of Brandon's tread-desk. He lied, or at least cannot find the pictures anywhere. As a consolation prize, here is a link to Robison's blog post about mental health.