Does writing make you fat?

Does writing make you fat?
Is writing good for the soul?
Is writing necessary to those who write?

If you think the first of those questions is a bit far fetched let me mention that I pretty much know there are two answers to this based on observation.

First things first then.
Does writing make you fat?

Answer one is yes - as you are sedentary and possibly consuming food / drink to keep you going whilst typing / writing whatever it is that you're currently engaged in immortalising. You could say therefore that it does indeed make you fat, and saggy as your poor muscles lose tone and your body begins to resemble a saggy Bagpuss with wide, flat descending bum and 'poochy-belly' as its called. Its not that you're indolent - no, you're very busy and productive but the pounds are going on simply because you're not physically, only mentally, motivated.

Then there is another answer to the question that is the converse - no, you're totally wasting away while you're writing.
This may be because you forget yourself while you work, the time flying past as you fixate on your written word and get swept along in a tide of mental musings that will, hopefully, culminate in some form of cohesive direction for the writing to take. You have no time for food or drink in fact you could even be worriting (yes, it is a real word) away at yourself and even that is eating up the calories. You're becoming so gaunt you resemble a newsreader on the BBC or a lollipop person. Not a good thing!

So why do we put ourselves through this? Obviously because we want to, or perhaps need to. For some - yes, I accept this might sound strange and indulgent - yes, for some, this writing thing is necessary. They feel the need to write. The writing feeds them, or is cathartic in some way, or eases their souls. Yes, strange as this may seem, for some there is a need to write. So they write. There may be those who would have been garrulous and driven the rest of humanity around them totally to distraction if they'd allowed these literary outpourings to be unleashed verbally on to an unsuspecting public. Imagine something like this blog being released into the waiting ears of a checkout girl or bus driver for instance. So perhaps this writing thing does some good or performs some needed function on a basic level and is in fact a bonus not only to the writer but to wider society, releasing a better person and confining their outpourings to a realm best suited for it? Now there's a thought. 

Again to be Jesuitical about it I should point out that writing may be the refuge of the delusional with nothing to say but at least this way it is again performing that role of allowing the 'nothing to say and saying it too loud' writer to have their outpourings confined within a soundproof environment. 

And what of my experience of writing? Well its addictive beyond any doubt. God forbid that I should get an idea and have the computer to hand as then I'm lost in a world of my own. Yes, sitting in the living room watching the news whilst eating a TV dinner with family members becomes a farce of juggling knives, forks, plates, tray, laptop, glasses and managing not to spill food whilst typing and shovelling stuff into my mouth, ignoring the niceties of communication and observation of joint activities and being - truth be told - too self contained for my own social good. Yet wait. Isn't this very response something that will dry up the juices of my literary outpourings? Quite apart from a discontented exodus of family members from my life if I continue to be all write, write, write, won't I miss something on the news, some touch with humanity that will feed my capacity to write something worth reading?  Oh the dilemma - to write or to be, now that is more the question than 'to be or not to be' if you ask me!

I'm going to add that I did a small search for an image depicting this situation to make things more graphic and it became more graphic than I was expecting.... I typed in 'topless tray with food' instead of topple-less tray (again, yes, that's a real thing) and I can't possibly post the interesting array of male and female unclad bodies covered in food that appeared on my screen. So, having been 'hoist by my own petard' so to speak I shall head off to slough off some of my accruing poundage with a brisk walk, pen and paper neatly tucked into a capacious bag not meant for power walking excursions and see if I can meet with some of the humanity that feeds my writing in the first place. 

Including a link to an interesting set of comments by writers about writing that, ironically, were posted in the forum today by Stephanie F that may not reflect the physical issues of writing but it does explain to those who are as yet not addicted just why writing causes such a personal impact. [ http://www.aerogrammestudio.com/2013/07/19/23-tips-from-famous-writers-for-new-and-emerging-authors/ ]