no more wasted time
PBW’s talking about time management via limiting internet time. Never mind that I choked at the part where she said she unplugged from the internet for a year. *whimpers*
And in her comments, Zornhau mentions an article by Jennifer Crusie (if I admit now that I’ve never read any of her books, will you all yell at me, like when I admitted to Larissa the other day that I’d never seen Buffy or Angel?) Anyway, this paragraph struck home:
“Protect the work,” my famous friend told me. “Get a life,” I told people in that earlier column. But what we really have to do is learn to tell ourselves those things. If we can figure out what’s important to us as individuals, if we can isolate the things we must cling to no matter what, and if we can reject all the noise and the garbage that try to bury those things, we won’t have to worry about getting lives. We’ll have them.
Cece always uses the quote, protect the work. And, following the theme, Kacey’s talking about Writing As A Career. (She’s also doing twenty-one days of writer’s affirmations.)
Anyway, in honor of timers, here’s a link Maili sent out a while ago, that lists free timer dowloads. I use the one called mintimer. It’s small and easy to use, and when I used it faithfully a few months back, I was more productive. Now it’s time to pull it back out and get to work and try to organize my afternoons better.
In fact, in the beginning when I used mintimer, I used it in reverse of what PBW talks about - she sets her timer for ten minutes of internet surfing at a time and I set mine for half hours of writing at a time. I was amazed at how much I could get done in thirty minutes, and how, after I’d gotten that first spurt of writing under my belt, I didn’t want to stop.
Steph T.
June 29th, 2005 at 9:35 am
I’m pretty strict with myself about having a life. Also about protecting the work as Cece calls it. Both are really important to me. That said, I’m completely addicted to my computer and do have to consciously limit my online time. I do this with my page count. If I write two pages, I can check email. If I write two more, I can read two blogs … and so on.
June 29th, 2005 at 11:08 am
June 29th, 2005 at 11:38 am
Steph-
I too find that the internet is sometimes a glorious distraction to writing. When I am stuck, it’s so much easier to check email or surf for a cute pair of shoes, or check on that jeans auction on Ebay.
The timer sounds like a great idea!
-Kel
June 29th, 2005 at 12:05 pm
(Shh…don’t tell anyone. I’ve never read any of Crusie’s books either, and I’ve certainly never watched Angel or Buffy.)
Great reminders there, Steph. I tend to waste time on the net as well (especially when I’m procrastinating).
June 29th, 2005 at 12:27 pm
Thanks for the links to timers! I’ve been wanting one of these but I guess I hadn’t done a search for one. I downloaded one and WILL be using it.
I set my page goal at 8 pages yesterday and you wouldn’t BELIEVE how many times I had to check email/blogs while I wrote that 8 pages.
June 29th, 2005 at 2:22 pm
Amy–I hear ya on that. I’m really bad about being on the Internet. Must. Stop. Bloghopping!
Thanks for the timer link!
June 29th, 2005 at 4:24 pm
Thanks for the link!
Must go write my affirmations, now…I usually like to do them right before I start writing…and unfortunately I haven’t written a word yet today. (should go read my blog post again, shouldn’t I??)
June 29th, 2005 at 5:14 pm
I can–and do–waste time with the best of them. OTOH, I’m not able to get out and about much either, so the Internet is a major lifeline for me. But, I admit, it can be a very distracting lifeline at times. :)
June 29th, 2005 at 5:23 pm
*ducks* I haven’t read Crusie either, and I’ve only seen two episodes of Buffy (none of Angel). Internet goofing off has been a serious problem for me lately. It is much easier to find something interesting on a blog than solve a story problem. The timer is an excellent solution!
June 29th, 2005 at 8:06 pm
I set certain hours when I can internet surf, blog hop, etc. It’s hard to keep to this. LOL. But when I’m on deadline, I’m very strict about it and I don’t check email AT ALL until my pages are done.
June 29th, 2005 at 8:58 pm
Thanks for the timer link! I’ve been thinking about this lately…needing something to keep me on track. I just downloaded.
June 29th, 2005 at 10:36 pm
I think it was SEP who said protect the work but it’s wise advice. I have a bunch of quotes that go to a crit list daily and that’s one of them. Have no idea where I got it.
Never read Cruise either but I have seen Buffy and Angel
June 29th, 2005 at 10:41 pm
Ooooooooo I mean to add, in this vein go over to squawk radio and read Debbie Macomber’s note
I hope this comment takes html LOL
June 29th, 2005 at 10:42 pm
It workeD!
June 30th, 2005 at 5:19 am
Cool post. Enjoyed it. Now I need to check out that timer.:happy:
July 2nd, 2005 at 10:36 am
It was quiet in blogland the past couple of days - maybe everyone’s using the timers?
Joely and Elisabeth - don’t say that about Angle/Buffy too loudly in front of Larissa…
Cece - the link worked on what came thru in email, but I don’t think comments will ever show HTML - but the article’s awesome.