Surfing, Rather Than Writing

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.

 

One Word for 2010

one word: encapsulate the year 2010 in one word. explain why you’re choosing that word. now, imagine it’s one year from today, what would you like the word to be that captures 2011 for you?

2010: CHAOS

I feel like I have not slept or sat down this entire year.  With husband, child, home, work, blog, and even Junior League, I almost needed a clone.  My husband took a management position at work late last year and we are still adjusting to the demands, a year later.  Angry Kid finished preschool and started Kindergarten in September.  We re-decorated our son’s room, tore apart our garage, and started/finished several other projects within the house.  I dealt with furloughs, pay cuts, layoffs, and dramatic schedule changes at work.  I re-worked and fine tuned my blogging.  I attended six blog conferences and two out of town brand events this year, and spoke at two of those blog conferences.  I decided to resign from Junior League because I realized that there are only twenty-four hours in the day.

Rollercoaster of ChaosPhoto from Flickr: pattyequalsawesome

I feel like someone is always coming or going in our house, and we are just holding on for the ride.  One of the Supervisors at work compared it to a rollercoaster.  He said to put my hands up in the air.  My problem is that the coaster still seems to be climbing, and I’m not at the part where we go down and scream, “weeeeeeee”.

2011: RECOVERY

When you Google the word “recovery”, one of the top ten hits is Eminem’s 2010 Album “Recovery”.  I think that it is pretty rad that Eminem is somewhat linked to my 2011 word.  I listen to this album almost daily.  I may even sing along in my car.  Angry Kid gets annoyed with Eminem.  He does not know his awesomeness.

Eminem Recovery

But really, enough about Eminem….this post is about me.

If you look at definitions of “recovery”, there are several.  Many of them are related to substance abuse.  The only substance that I abuse is Dr. Pepper.  I’m pretty sure that there isn’t a 12-step program for that though.  But I did find one definition that is perfect. Recovery-“restoration to a former or better condition”.   I’ve learned the good ole’ fashioned way that there are some things that you cannot change, and that you need to take your destiny into your own hands.  So basically, I need to work on myself, and hope that the people around me will understand that I might be making some changes, but they are good changes.

I am smart, and I know myself.  I can’t do everything overnight. But recovery is a process, and I am willing to work on it, one step at a time. And as Eminem’s song goes, “I’m not afraid”.

Wordless Wednesday: Hot Cocoa

Hot Cocoa from the Filling Station, Orange, CA

Welcome to  “Angry Julie Monday’s Wordless Wednesday Linky”!

If this your first time here, HELLO! I do a link-up every Wednesday! Post a picture(s) that you took in the past week and link back to it here. Wordless Wednesday is a great day to post an awesome picture that “speaks” for itself, no words needed.

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