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The Evils That Ground Us

by Maggie Van Well 5 February 2010 7 Comments

Just when I thought I had gotten myself together and hunkered down to write. I find a another obstacle.

There is a new evil in our midst and its name is Facebook.

Now, before everyone calls for my head, hear me out

I love Facebook. It has helped me connect with friends from my high school days, my family (and I have a BIG family) and writers from all over. But as wonderful as it is, there is danger lurking.

Being a notorious procrastinator,Facebook is like a drug. How can I possibly write when my farm needs tending? Or my cyber fish need feeding? My brother could use help in Mafia Wars and my friend wants help in her cafe. Constant updates make me curious what everyone else is doing. Plus, once you comment on someone’s status, you hear from EVERYONE.

Great, so now I have to ween myself off Facebook .

Getting the most out of my writing time is essential if I ever want to get published, so I’ve come up with a list of things that keep me focused.

1) Only check Facebook once during writing time. My fish won’t die if they go without food for a few hours.

2) Turn off yahoo messenger. Putting my status on busy doesn’t work for some people And while it’s wonderful to have my CPs at my fingertips, I also have my mom, sisters and chat friends. Most of whom don’t quite get what being a writer entails.

3) Cancel email loops that aren’t really necessary and put those that are on digest. I used to belong to about 25 loops. If i let my emails go unchecked for even an afternoon, I’d have around 200 emails to shift through. And I simply had to do it. What if one was meant especially for me, or another hid a pearl of wisdom?

4) Learn that it’s okay to say ‘no.’ And don’t feel guilty about it! I encourage everyone to support your chapter and chapter mates. In fact, I think it’s much more important than any other thing I’ve listed. But, it’s okay if you can’t volunteer to help in the upcoming contest or make it to a library talk. Your chapter mates and friends understand. Please note though: if at all possible, please make time to attend book signings.

5) One critique group. This is a personal choice, but one I had to make. I belonged to several critique groups, and while some people thrive with so much activity, I was drowning. I left all but one and I can honestly say, I’ve been getting to bed at a much more reasonable time.

So there’s my list of evils. It’s a personal list. Yours is probably different. I’d love to hear about it!

~Maggie

7 Comments »

Stacey Joy Netzel said:

Maggie, I keep getting flack from friends and family about not being on Facebook, but what you’ve described above is exactly why I haven’t joined yet. I find enough other things to procrastinate with. (and I don’t Twitter or MySpace or other stuff, either.) Maybe I’m hurting myself, but in the end, I’d rather be writing. Once I’m done with my current WIP, I *might* decide to do FB. I’ve been considering it more the past couple months.

Now go get some writing done and I’m going to do the same!

# 5 February 2010 at 9:10 am

Lavada Dee said:

I’ve been giving the topic you’ve blog about some thought lately. With me I have to much clutter in my life. In this time of downsizing I’m going to try to concentrate on getting rid of time robbers. Like if I can get my life organized by getting rid of things I haven’t used or worn in — time it will free up the time to maintain them. Organize the computer by again deleting stuff of it. Go through Yahoo groups and unsubscribe or go digest. Facebook, Myspace and Twitter I have under control and don’t do the games on either of them.

So, for 2010 I’m going to get organized to a new trimer life. And, this is a good time to do it. We got home the 1st from a month in Tucson where life is slower and less cluttered. We also came home to a to-do list a mile long.

Good topic this morning.

# 5 February 2010 at 11:20 am

Jeannie Ruesch said:

Hey Maggie — Yes, facebook, twitter, emails, loops, all of it can be a tremendous time suck…and usually that time suck happens before you even realize it happened! LOL

With Facebook, I drew a line in the sand and that line was NO applications, no “games.” The only one that I allowed myself is the Typing Maniac, because it’s fun and it works out my fingers. LOL Other than that, I set all the applications to ignore — so I don’t see them on my wall or my news feed or anywhere. It’s much nicer.

Same with email — as much as I thought having ALL of my different email addresses in one inbox would help, it actually hindered more. So I separated my emails from personal, writing and work, and it makes it much easier to focus where I need to focus.

And yes, I totally agree with one critique group – I did the same. (Especially when that CP group kicks butt. LOL)

# 5 February 2010 at 11:25 am

Lavada Dee said:

Jeannie, I like the organization you’ve done. I’m going to set my apps to ignore and right now I have all my emails coming to one address. I’m going to rethink this. Thanks for the idea’s

# 5 February 2010 at 1:14 pm