Walking advocate, Born to Walk project founder, and author Dan Rubinstein is taking the premise of his 2015 debut title, Born to Walk: The Transformative Power of a Pedestrian Act (ECW Press), to a whole new level next month.

Working on contract as a writer and editor at Carleton University in Ottawa, Rubinstein will be serving as what he calls a “treadmill writer-in-residence,” working and meeting with students from a treadmill desk.

Q&Q spoke with the writer about his fun new initiative.

What inspired this idea? I work as a writer with Carleton’s department of university communications and have a nice office in a beautiful building, but it doesn’t have a window, so I typically go elsewhere to work. There are lots of great spaces on campus, including these two treadmill desks in the library’s Discovery Centre. I started working there and figured I could make it more fun by inviting people to hop onto the other treadmill and offer my services as a writer, editor, and communications consultant from there. And if people are interested, talk about the cognitive and creative properties of walking and how it can help people think more clearly and think in divergent ways. It also spreads the word about the importance of physical activity and the dangers of a sedentary lifestyle.

The centre is meant to be a collaborative multi-disciplinary space for people to not just sit and read and write, but work together. These treadmill desks face big windows overlooking the Rideau Canal and offer a nice space to work. The centre does its own programming and is looking for new ways to get people talking to each other and working together, so this fits with that programming too.

Do you think this kind of initiative could be helpful for other writers or writers-in-residence? As helpful as a treadmill desk can be. I don’t think they replace walking outside; being out in nature does some really amazing things, which I write about in the book a lot. Also, when you’re walking from one place to another, the theory is that your perspective literally changes with every step, so when you’re thinking about a problem or a story you’re writing, it helps you see it from different angles. In a lot of writing residencies you have office hours and meet with people, but it’s a one-on-one, more private thing. Whereas this, though admittedly a small program, is out in a public space, so I hope it will encourage discussions about both writing and walking.

Have you been inspired to start any new writing projects? I found the book, though rewarding, pretty creatively draining. I’m only now starting to think that maybe another book might be a possibility, but I’m not sure what yet. Initially I thought, “That’s it for walking, I’m done with it and want to explore other things.” But one of the things that excites me about this “residency” is there’s some interesting thinking about the collaborative properties of walking. I’m interested in – and this is a bit of an experiment – how I’ll be able to work with other people while we’re both walking. There are all these kind of sidetracks off of walking and writing that can be explored in a literary way, and I’m wondering where it might go.