Writing.
What do you do each day that doesn’t contribute to your writing — and can you eliminate it?
I probably hear this at least once a day from Angry Husband. “If you didn’t spend so much time lurking on the Internet, you might actually get something done.” He has always called me a lurker. I am a “reader”. I read a ton of stuff, whether it be a book, magazine, newspaper, blogs, or even Twitter. This is part of my personality, and always has been. BUT, it causes quite a problem for my focus.
If I am motivated enough, I can write a decent blog post within the hour. But a few things need to be in place; a focused topic, somewhat of an outline, and a photo. I could spend hours working to find or photograph the perfect image. I try to have at least one photo in every one of my blog posts. I have “perfectionist” issues, and I realize that.
BUT, I tend to get distracted. I think the main problem when writing on for/on the Internet, is the actual Internet. It can be very distracting and it sucks you in. I open my dashboard to start a post, and then a message pops up from Skype. I start chatting, and there goes an hour. Or, I pull up The Twitter, or The Facebook. Talk about time suck. But many of my posts have external links in them, so that is why I need to be online when writing.
A few years ago, I actually told Angry Husband to unplug or disable the router when he went to work. He knows about my “addiction” and “need” to be on the Internet. A couple of times he actually disabled it, but then he told me that I was an adult and that I need to use self control. But I am attracted to shiny things like a magnet, and just get sucked back in.
I hope that someday, I can find a balance and be able to schedule myself better. I had a period, earlier this year, where I actually wrote some blog posts in advance. I think that I need to work on things in advance more, so that I actually have time to write, rather than stay up late at night, and write misspelled posts with bad grammar.
My 2nd biggest factor in not focusing on writing is my great ideas that never get written. I think of blog posts in my head all the time. It is almost like a little thought bubble above my head, and then poof, it is gone. I need to write down these ideas, or at least speak them into the voice recorder on my iPhone. I always have a good idea.
P.S. I have no photo on this post, on purpose. No distractions with this one.
