Writers get physical: a grounded theory study to understand the relationship between writing activity and physical activity

Abstract

Throughout history, famous writers, such as Joyce Carol Oates, Jonathan Swift, and Louisa May Alcott, have written about how running benefited their writing practices. In the field of composition studies, inquiry into the relationship between writing activity and physical activity of any kind is limited, specifically in terms of embodied writing pedagogy or the teaching of sensorimotor experiences as part of a writers writing process. This dissertation begins with the following research questions: What is the relationship between physical activity and writing activity? How can physical activity help us understand the nature of the writing process for professional academic and non-academic writers? Can physical activity support writing activity, especially for student writers? If so, how? To answer these questions, I review all available embodied writing pedagogy from the field of composition studies as well as research in embodied cognition. I introduce the grounded theory approach I took with this study, and I explain how teacher research and feminist narrative(s) research principles guided my collection and analysis of data in the form of interviews, writing logs, and writing samples from professional writers and student writers. Ultimately, I establish that a creative-productive relationship exists between physical activity and writing activity for both professional writers and student writers, and this relationship tends to vary depending on the ability and experience level of the writer.