New Strategy for Managing My Addictive Personality

[dr_pretentious]

Seceding 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.

Comments

[sabrinamari.livejournal.com]

OK, I'm good with it. I get to see you Wednesday, right? We'll be meeting at my place.

[calene.livejournal.com]

I don't blame you at all. It sounds like a good plan, and I hope it helps you find a better middle ground.

[vgnwtch.livejournal.com]

Sounds like a very sensible plan.

[annathepiper]

I hope that this works for you! The most sensible advice I have ever received in this vein came from the redoubtable mizkit, who told me, "LOG OFF." It helps. Lots. ;)

I'm lucky, at least... I can get out a lot of LJ mileage in between doing stuff at work, which helps me get it out of my system before I get home and write.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

Yes. I'll bring fresh fruit and some sort of green veggie side dish. Coming straight from work, so I'll probably get there around 8.

[dr-pretentious.livejournal.com]

That is one of the problems with teaching/tutoring. All my billable hours are face-to-face interaction, so there's no down time when I'm stuck in front of a computer waiting for it to become possible to engage in a job-related task. All hours that are not hours of paid labor are potentially writing hours, so doing the dishes, calling my mom, sleeping, pretty much anything that's not writing feels like a theft from the book. The book wants me to finish it, really lots and lots.

[annathepiper]

Ohh, I know the feeling, believe me. I was fretting once at mamishka about needing to get some writing done, and she started to try to tell me that 'oh, you don't HAVE to write every day, don't stress about it'--and yet, I kind of do. It doesn't feel right if I don't!