SIMON SAYS – Writers and Seasonal Affective Disorder Part Four
March 3, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
Many people are adversely affected each year by the winter blues, and writers are no exception. There are many ways to combat SAD, including antidepressants and other medications, but bright artificial light treatments are common as a means to give the body more exposure to the light that is lacking once winter approaches. For SAD sufferers, shorter days and long nights can initiate depression, excessive fatigue and other issues. Not simply the ‘winter blues’, seasonal affective disorder is recognized as a form of depression, which can have serious consequences.
However, you don’t have to mourn the passing of summer by looking ahead with a sense of impending doom and there are many ways to cope with feelings of lethargy and mood shifts in fall and winter.
Make your home or writing workplace brighter by opening blinds, perhaps even adding extra windows and trim tree branches or bushes close to the house that block sunlight.
If a trip to warmer latitudes isn’t in your budget, get outside as much as you can, taking advantage of the sunshine even on cold winter days. Regular physical exercise can also help with stress relief and prevent the onset of SAD. Feeling more fit makes you feel better about yourself overall and generally improves your mood.
Giving in to those winter blues can also be stressful and lead to overeating, overindulgence in alcohol or other unhealthy pursuits, so you need to take care of your body, watch your diet and get enough sleep.
Make time to relax and get away from your writing once in a while, especially if you work at home. And even if you do suffer from cabin fever, make sure you invite people into that cabin for a tea or coffee on occasion during the winter or at least go to visit theirs. Writing is a solitary and often lonely profession and staying connected with your friends and acquaintances, and not just on-line, is vital if you are to get through the winter.
SAD may be a fact of life for many people out there, but it doesn’t have to be a sad part of your life during the darker winter months, so keep writing and get that book finished. After all, there may be someone in a sunnier place beating you to it.
SIMON SAYS – Seeing the Light – Writers and Seasonal Affective Disorder Part Three
February 25, 2010 by Adrian
Filed under Simon Says
There are undoubtedly many writers who may suffer from SAD and who are as a result less motivated to write in the winter months. And yet, when we think of our ancestors who had no access to artificial light to illuminate the gloom of winter, they still managed to write and their work is no less impressive.
Early Man may have created his cave paintings in the daytime when ferocious wild beasts were less likely to be around. Yet the caves themselves would certainly have been very dark and the pictures painted by the light of a flaming torch.
Fast forward to the classical world of Greece and Rome and the great works of Plato, Aristotle, Virgil and so many others may have been composed at night, with very little illumination.
Monks in the Middle Ages would also have worked all year round and such works as Beowulf or the Anglo Saxon chronicle would never have been written if everyone in the scriptorium had SAD.
But did Shakespeare only write in the spring and summer? Candlelight was his only option if he chose to write his plays and sonnets after the sun had set. The same applied to Samuel Pepys, who we can assume wrote at least a portion of his diary entries in the evening as he recorded his reflections on the day. And Pepys didn’t just write about his experiences in the spring and summer, but throughout the year. And of course Charles Dickens was a prolific writer for twelve months of each year, with only candlelight, oil or gas lamps to enable him to write in all four seasons.
