On Famous Walkers, or Why You Should Pace Around While Writing

I couldn't mentally settle down to write this article, so I stepped outside for a 20-minute walk. During that walk, I managed to craft my opening sentence (yes, the one you just read). What is it about walking that unclogs my mental pathways?

- MARION LOUGHEED

In 1921, Canadian poet Robert W. Service wrote that “walking … leaves me free to think.” So many writers pace the floor while working out a knotty story problem or a convoluted sentence. Why do we do that?

When I talk about walking in this article, keep in mind that rolling and/or dancing in a wheelchair offer many of the same benefits.

Scholarly research has shown that walking boosts focus and creativity and improves mood. When our heart pumps faster, it increases circulation. Walking stimulates blood flow to the legs and, perhaps more relevantly for us writers, to the brain. Better blood flow means that more oxygen, proteins, and other nutrients reach our neurons.

Since walking involves motion, it changes our physical perspective, even in a familiar space. This can help change our mental perspective and give us new insights.

If you’re not yet a walker, I encourage you to join this longstanding tradition, if only for the sake of your writing.

FAMOUS WALKERS

From Charles Dickens to Rebecca Solnit, writing and walking have long gone hand in glove (or foot in shoe, as it were). Cheryl Strayed famously walked 1,100 miles on the Pacific Crest Trail and wrote about it in her memoir Wild.

In 17th-century Japan, Matsuo Bashō felt uninspired in his writing, so he embarked on foot from Edo (now Tokyo) into the interior of the country. He travelled light, carrying a pack with clothing for inclement weather—and his “ink and brushes.” Bashō prioritized his writing tools as part of his travels.

I guess it worked out for him. Hundreds of years later, people are still talking about The Narrow Road to the Deep North.

Luckily, you don't have to depart on an epic journey to find inspiration.