Authur Miller would have written the play if he were alive today.
There’s no question about that. The question, however, would be not whether Authur Miller would write the play, but whether he could live through the writing of it.
You see, all writers are bloggers; have been since people began writing. The difference is the medium. Instead of writing on cave walls in prehistoric times, papyrus, parchment, and finally paper, men and women today write on a computer screen and post their writings on virtual pages somewhere out in the digital nether world of the internet for others to read.
Just as writers are bloggers, so bloggers are writers. And the same malady that once plagued writers now plagues bloggers – lack of exercise. Cardiovascular exercise in particular.
Matt Richtel’s article points out that several celebrated bloggers have recently died from heart attacks. Another managed to recover. Regardless, that’s too many myocardial infarctions in such a short time in the same industry.
Granted, that’s something to seriously ponder. But what bothers me more is that, despite the detail in Richtel’s article regarding the malady, he does not address the dilemma with a probable solution. Instead he eulogizes the love of blogging, just as Victor Hugo once eulogized writing when writers were paid by the word and their word was ex cathedra. So they slaved over every word, phrase, and page until they grew fat, went insane, or dropped dead from, you got it, heart attack.
It does not take a Mayo clinician to figure things like this out. The solution might just be in walking or some aerobic exercise for just twenty minutes every other day. Something to get your heart rate up enough to keep your arteries cleared and your heart muscle strong.
The main thing is to get away from the computer for a few minutes. I know, I know, it’s hard to do. But if you want to continue writing beyond age fifty or sixty that’s something a blogger just has to do.
There’s money in blogging, obviously. There’s also, as Richtel points out, a lot of stress and addiction to the trade. Any writer understands this and most writers understand the need for exercising the old body, keeping it healthy, eating the right foods. But, writers if they really are writers can become total lovers of their trade and forget to do those things that promote a longer, productive life.
It’s true, some writers beat the odds. But why take the chance? Get some exercise. Don’t play out Authur Miller’s story line for Death of a Salesman. Think of all the blogging you can do if you do the things that provide for a healthier lifestyle.
There is money to be made in the blogging business, but not for those who put themselves on the fast track to burnout. Russell Shaw and Marc Orchant apparently bit the dust early because of it. Bloggers can learn from this. They need not become the fodder of a storyline for a playwright like Authur Miller.
Get some exercise! Blogging doesn’t have to be the death of you.
See Richtel’s article. Click on the link:
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