I don't know if this happens to anyone else, but it seems like I can't be physical (exercising) and creative at the same time. I don't mean within the same moment. I mean like the same day or week or month. I write stories, and I really want to finish my novel. But it just seems like when I start exercising, I can only think about working out or I feel exhausted and my brain doesn't want to work on stories. Is it just because I'm not very used to exercising? I think that this is a big reason I can never stick to working out. I love writing, and I don't feel like I'm being productive if I go too long without working on one of my stories.

I write articles for websites for a living and I have actually noticed the opposite. When I exercise regularly my concentration increases. When I put of exercising it's really hard for me to focus. I have ADHD though.

I have my best best ideas when I'm walking.

Writing stories is a lot different than writing articles (which I have also written before), it takes a lot of creative energy to envision plots and characters. Sure, you can do research for certain places or eras or whatever it is you're writing about, but you have to come up with most of the ideas yourself.

And, for some reason, that part of my brain just doesn't want to work when I've exercised. Maybe it will change when I get more used to it (I hope so), because, like I have already mentioned, I usually abandon exercising in favor of my "muse".

To be honest, my ideas come when I'm sitting in silence by myself (that's why I mostly get ideas in the restroom), or if I'm sitting in front of my laptop. A little insomnia sometimes helps too, but the fatigue I get after a workout just seems to drain all of my ideas away. My thinking is pretty foggy right now (I exercised this morning).

I've been working out in the morning. My writing seems to come mostly at night. I kind of like to be in complete darkness, with nothing but my mind and the light of my laptop. That could also be a big reason. The exercise is tiring me out, and I'm not able to stay up super late and write, though I have been known to write late at night/early morning and keep writing until it is around 9 am and then crash. lol.

I usually take a bath before I workout.

That's true. Thanks.

Yes, I also have trouble with this.

In 2008, at a funeral, I saw again a friend whom I don't see very frequently, but when I do see her, I'm usually at some dramatic point in my weight. She's seen me at 200, 107, 247 (when I came to town to do a reading of a newly published book -- a triumph, but I was pretty fat at the time) and 140.

I said to her, "I can either write or keep my weight down."

My sad theory is that both activities require a certain obsessiveness. And I'm only able to obsess about one thing at a time. This is because when I do one or the other, I make the stakes very, very high. I'm not just writing, I'm writing to finish something & to ensure it gets out there in a final, perfect form. Same with exercise. It's not just about my health, it's Being All That I Can Be, Working to My Limits, Fulfilling My Physical Potential. When I'm like that, of course it's impossible to be that intense in two areas of my life simultaneously. It would knock me out flat. I can barely handle working hard at one.

I wish I didn't equate moderation with mediocrity & being a dilettante, a mere hobbyist. But I do.

Thank you for your input, saef. I can't believe I didn't think of that before. It sounds almost exactly like me. I guess I have a very addicted personality. When I'm exercising, I daydream of exercising more, and envision myself exercising or being at my goal weight. I also stress about my food consumption, and it's like I can't think of anything else.

But when I'm not changing my diet or exercising, my entire thought-process is put on my stories.

*nods* That definitely makes sense. I just wish there was a middle ground.

saef, do you not write at all while you exercise?

The writing is kind of unstoppable. It always reemerges through some crack or cranny, such as in my posts on this forum. When I'm posting a lot here, it means I am not writing elsewhere.

But I don't consider this to be really writing.

This kind of writing is like walking someplace, because you have to get there, as opposed to a run, which you prepare for, and dress a certain way for (the right shoes), and map out in your mind, and when you do it, you're really focused on your performance & on going the distance. That's the kind of writing I'm not doing: A specific project which I work on over time, in increments, in a really focused way.

My mind is not going to the places it needs to go to do that kind of writing. I'm not ruminating. I'm not making connections between things. And I don't feel any urgency, like I have something to say & I really need to get it down. I have nothing to say. No subject, really.

So I'm thinking the weight, health & body image thing has crowded out the other obsessions, which keeps me from having anything to say about anything else.

Someone wrote that if women harnessed the power & time they spend fretting over their weight & appearance & put it to other use, they would rule the world. Maybe that's not true, but it has stayed with me as being appropriate for how I portion out my time & efforts sometimes.

Wow, saef, that speaks to me on such a deep level. It's like you plucked it out of my mind. I realize, too, that there are times when I will sit at my computer and frequent forums. It really is like my mind isn't working at its usual level when I'm writing (or even jotting down notes).

perhaps you could experiment with different types of exercise to find one that gives you more energy. or try yoga, pilates, ballet type exercises which doesn't sound like it would wear you out.