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dr_pretentiousSeceding temporarily from the blogosphere didn't help. During the three weeks during which I quit lj cold turkey, work on the novel went beautifully. Now that I'm back, I'm spending a shocking amount of time keeping up with other people's blogs. No, I'm not going to tell you exactly how shocking, just that I'm no more restrained than I was before my hiatus. Rationalizing my blog-reading habit as a way to keep up with writers, editors, and agents I admire doesn't cut it. Rationalizing my blog-reading habit as a way to keep up with the friends I'm neglecting while I try to get the revisions done doesn't cut it, either.
Good = What Feeds the Book
Bad = What Starves the Book
Okay, those axioms would make a crappy ethical system, but they come in very handy for assessing my lifestyle. If I spend less than 2 hours a day on the novel, the joy bleeds out of my life. If I spend less than 4 hours a day on the novel, I'm cranky and hard to live with. Bliss is a 10-hour writing day. I miss my 10 hour writing days. My weekends could be that again, if the novel didn't have to compete with this other addiction.
So here's the new strategy:
I'm setting an egg timer on my desk. No more than 45 minutes will go to blog-related activities in a single day. Ever. Again.
Good = What Feeds the Book
Bad = What Starves the Book
Okay, those axioms would make a crappy ethical system, but they come in very handy for assessing my lifestyle. If I spend less than 2 hours a day on the novel, the joy bleeds out of my life. If I spend less than 4 hours a day on the novel, I'm cranky and hard to live with. Bliss is a 10-hour writing day. I miss my 10 hour writing days. My weekends could be that again, if the novel didn't have to compete with this other addiction.
So here's the new strategy:
I'm setting an egg timer on my desk. No more than 45 minutes will go to blog-related activities in a single day. Ever. Again.
