Thursday, August 15, 2013

Writing...or not?

The other day I had an epiphany.

I was online after doing some work and checked my mails, my tumblr, facebook, twitter, RSS feeder, private forum, work email, twitter, tumblr...

Wow. I waste a lot of time online.

Twitter is good for networking and just being social with people, so that has purpose. Facebook I use to stay in touch with RL people (and let's be honest, it takes the least amount of my day), email is important (although I should probably consolidate the 7 email addresses...), but the RSS feeder has plenty of things I barely look at, but that takes time every day to check. And tumblr. Sweet, tempting tumblr.

I started my tumblr as a creative playground. The plan was that when I (or a follower) wanted to do a quick free write, they could go to the site, click "random," get an image, and then write that story. A few hundred words or so. It'd be a good exercise.

Then my tumblr started focusing on sexy guy images. And I started following more tumblrs. And more. And more. And then I created a tumblr for my writing stuff. And then another and another and another. The problem isn't the tumblrs I make. It's the ones I follow. And I like to make sure I see everything, because some great things get posted. But it takes time.

And what's the point? Are the images inspiring me? Rarely. Entertaining me? Sometimes. Just cute? Mostly.

Sometimes it's a nice way to sit back and relax. In most cases, checking tumblr takes no more than ten minutes if I haven't checked in 24 hours (and my computer isn't being super slow). Not really a huge waste of time. Except when I check every 10 minutes. And then check twitter again.

Obviously these are all just things I use to put off what I should be doing (whether that's working or writing). But the point is, I complain to myself that I never get time to write, but then I waste all that time on tumblr and such.

It needs to stop. So here's the plan:

1. Check all my sites 1 or 2 times a day (am and pm), except on weekends, when I get more freedom. (And maybe check tumblr one more time before bed, just to chill.)

2. Write. Every day, at least 100 words. If I don't feel focused on one of my stories, then I'll click a random item from my tumblr, write up a flash fiction, and post it on my writing tumblr.

That's the plan. We'll see.

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