When (not if) the WGA strike is resolved, (as Ray Richmond sounds a note of cautious optimism) will there be a replay of the NBA strike, when players came back too fat and too lazy? We asked around:

Nina Bargiel

It's not like the strike hit and I slapped my ass to the couch to start watching The Hills. Instead of working on a script but I've been working on other endeavors --blogging, vlogging, the Post-Apocalyptic Workout--so those creative muscles are still being flexed, just in a different way. Even when I'm not working, I'm writing. I always write. Of course, now one of my writing projects demands that I get in shape, so I'm doubly screwed!

Ken Levine:

I'm getting all of my projects ready to go so that when the strike is over I can begin procrastinating. My ass is just not fat enough yet to return to work.

John Aboud:

I wish it was that easy to turn off. Being a jackass comedy writer is a congenital condition.

Dale Launer:

You don't have to keep in shape to write. In fact one could argue that some down time, if anything, gives you a break and you can start with a fresher outlook. Also, if you have any talent at all, it's like riding a bike. All the good habits (and bad habits) come rushing back. It's easy to get out of the groove as a writer, but that has little to do with the strike.

Hell, some of us have been diligently walking the picket line. Not that it burns up a lot of energy, but it burns more than sitting at a laptop.

And though we're not supposed to be writing (which I never quite understood), but I'm sure everyone (at least feature writers) have been working on their specs.

How can you stop writing?

Eric Kaplan:

My mind and soul are in perfect fighting trim.The truth of the matter is that writers don't need jobs to be ready to write.

CBS looks to the Great White North for writers, because Due South was such a success.

Avital notes the return of Deal or No Deal:

the story of a banker who must protect his money and family...of models holding briefcases...from random criminals who take advantage of his generousity

Conan defoliates.

(photo from Tobias Higbie)