While at Squaw Valley Writers Workshop in August, Ron Carlson, one of our fiction workshop leaders, encouraged us to lay off the email until after 4:00 p.m., and to forgo blogging altogether. He's no Luddite, but he's got a point: all things technology are time suckers -- and he never even mentioned Facebook, which I confess is an all-out addiction.
The point is that there are too many distractions for writers, most having to do with eating, coffee drinking, and excuse-making in general, and if we're "working" on anything other than fiction, we're simply goofing off.
So I'm taking a sabbatical from blogging, and limiting myself to two Facebook visits per day -- before 9:00 a.m., and after 4:00 p.m., when I'll also check email.
Can I do it? Heck if I know, but I'm gonna try. I gotta try. I've got a deadline for the first draft of my new novel, and if I'm going to nail it, I've got to drink Ron's Kool-Aid.
See you April 1?
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
4 comments:
Good luck with that, Renee. If you succeed, please tell me how you disciplined yourself. I am also addicted to Facebook. Aaaah!
San Francisco Cynthia! So great to hear from you. So far, so good. Of course, it's only been a few days, but I'll definitely keep you posted. (First day, I was watching the little clock on my laptop...3:58...3:59...4:00! Yay, I can check email!)
Hey, Renee... I saw your card posted at the General Store in Elk, CA; very neat! Are you there very often?
How great to work with Ron Carlson. He certainly says it straight.
Facebook is such a time-suck, as my kids say, email not much better, but everything in balance. When i feel things out of whack, I put myself back on the email after 4 pm thing; it works. Although sometimes, I have to set it for after 10 pm, since I don't sit down until late (after work) to write. If I'm really good, I get all my email done before I get home! ;-P
Hi Lakin,
Thanks so much for your great note. I posted that card at the Elk General Store in mid-June. It was our second stay (we were also there last Nov., for T'giving). Husband and I love the Bavarian Room at the Elk Cove Inn.
I checked out your blog (fun) and left a note. Look forward to "talking" again soon. Sounds like we've much in common.
-- RMT
Post a Comment