More Write
Prioritizing
Household chores are done, check. Laundry placed in dryer,
check. Seated comfortably in recliner, check. Homemade low-fat caramel latte
sitting on the end table at my side, check. Cat sleeping on lap, check. Flames are
dancing in the fireplace and music is playing on the radio. My circumstances
are now just right for my daily writing appointment. However, why don’t I just
check my email and get it out of the way first? Then I won’t be curious if
anyone has replied about something important. Well, then I should answer
another email, write a little, read a blog, make a comment, recommend the
article on Twitter and Google +, write a little more, hit like on friends’
Facebook statuses . . . Oh look, it’s nearly time to make dinner.
Now my two hours of uninterrupted, productive writing time
has become 45 minutes. My ten in the morning writing appointment didn’t start
until 2:30 p.m. But it only took a
couple of minutes to check my email, right? Wrong! While I do admit to truly
being present for my writing appointment three times last week and being fairly
productive during those times, it certainly made me look more closely at what I
am truly doing with my writing time. I sure am easily distracted!
A successful author friend of mine encouraged me to make
writing even more of a priority. She challenged me not to even check email or
any social media before I write until I hit a set daily word count. Hmm . . .
Or I’m thinking, at least hit goals for the day, whether it’s finishing an
outline or a chapter.
This week’s goal is to move writing time to the next
priority after time with the Lord and a little exercise. I don’t have to have
everything perfect first. The dust bunnies aren’t going anywhere!
I do miss the days of physically having to plug in the modem
to be on the Internet, though. Yes, I can turn the connection off while I
write, but distractions are only a mouse-click away. What about you—how do you unplug from the Internet and social media
while you write? Please share in the comment section below!
This week’s writing
prompt: The first time I went to see
a movie in the theater I . . .
Enjoy the walk down memory lane today!
You are singing my son on this one, sister! Maybe we should challenge each other to write first email later. :-)
ReplyDeleteSounds good! Today was the first day I actually did it! It can be done! :)
DeleteYep. It seems like I'm chasing rabbit trails all day long. Just check this email and this blog and BAM! Three hours later I wonder what happened. Such is life in the information age, I suppose. Gotta change that though!
ReplyDeleteI'm trying by turning off my internet connection each day until I reach a certain
Deletepoint, unless there's something really important to check. I do believe it's
saving me time and keeping me from going over the same emails more than
once--sort of like getting digest format! My reward was more time to read before
bed last night. :) It's a hard change though!
It's hard to turn away from the computer! But when I get this kind of email blog first thing in the morning I take the time to read them :) Then I take my old-fashioned theme notebook (you know, the colored one with regular ruled paper stitched inside, used to be black and white) and I write in the corner of my living room next to the fireplace (we have about 1 1/2 feet of snow outside right now). A pencil with a good eraser, my thesaurus, and a file folder full of good ideas and newspaper clippings for the time period of my scene. Hoepfully I have some kind of internal prompt to take me there, 120 years back, and what is in the file will probably help. Sometimes I take my character descriptions with me to make sure I keep my folks in line. Or photographs to remind me of what I want to show... I get away from the computer and to the other side of the house. I don't use it to write, just the good old-fashioned way of scribbling it out in those notebooks. I have many colors! There is something visceral and right about getting it on paper first. And there is room for arrows and question marks and I can erase as needed. Or cross out, or whatever. When I write... :)
ReplyDeleteHi Kathy! Glad you came by my blog today. Thank you for the reminder of
Deleteusing a good old-fashioned paper notebook. I used to write all my first
drafts in one. What a nice way to slow down and get into the mood for
writing historicals. I have recently been writing a summary of the scene
I will be writing next in a notebook, so I have it next to me and it does
help me to keep more focused on my writing. Thank you again for sharing!