Keeping Fit In The Fiction Team!


the fiction team

There are so many plus points to working here in the Fiction Team.

One is that a major part of our working day is spent reading!

The flip side, of course, is that we’re all sitting down for most of the day. Especially as we move into autumn, and it’s more likely we’ll have lunch at our desks.

Our health features often remind us that it’s important to stay active throughout the day — for example, regularly getting up and walking around.

So, we’ve set ourselves the challenge. We aim to climb up to the 10th Floor of our building once a day.

In fairness, our office is on Floor One, so it’s only the nine floors we have to climb!

Our incentive

The DC Thomson building is quite an imposing sight.

Situated right in the heart of Dundee, home of “The People’s Friend”, you can see it on the cover of our 150th anniversary issue .

Just behind the main part of the building you’ll see the Tower — if you look closely, you can see the stairwell.

We’ve got such a great incentive to complete our climb: the breathtaking views from our beautiful Vista Room on the 10th Floor.

With windows on three sides, it gives a panoramic look at the city of Dundee, from the fascinating “Howff” burial ground directly across the road, all the way over the bridges to Fife, and up the coast past Broughty Ferry towards the disused lighthouses at Buddon Ness.

From Floor One to Floor Ten, there are 186 stairs in all. That’s 930 steps a week!

And we’re not alone in our quest to keep fit.

Some colleagues from our sister magazine take to the stairs every day to get some steps in.

Just before she left, Illustrations Editor Sarah was taking the stairs two at a time.

Although I’m not sure I’ll be doing that any time soon!

You can meet the Fiction team here.

Read more team blog posts here.

Lucy Crichton

Fiction Editor Lucy is always on the look-out for the very best short stories, poems and pocket novels. As well as sourcing enjoyable content, she enjoys working with our established contributors, encouraging new talent, and celebrating 155 years of 'Friend' fiction!