December 30th, 2004
How much of your day is spent online? How much of your writing time is eaten up by it? I find that hours of my day can be sucked into the net, if I’m not careful. E-mails, blog surfing, following up on business things, paying bills, checking balances… it all adds up to online drag time.
Anyone tried regulating their online time? Perhaps confining it to certain hours or certain lengths of time? Or even certain days?
::snort:: yeah. right.
But I try to curtail my online slothing. I really do. gg
by Jaq December 30th, 2004 at 4:42 pmOh, yes, I do regulate my online time. I even have a mini program that operates as a timer/alarm, set at specific times, “permitting” me to alternate between ‘work’ and ‘play’ online.
by Maili December 30th, 2004 at 6:28 pm*chokes back sob at thought of confining online time to certain days :cry:*
I try to use surfing as my ‘reward’ for getting writing done rather than a procrastination tool…doesn’t always work:roll:
Maili - can you tell me more about that alarm?
by Steph T. December 30th, 2004 at 6:44 pmMaili you’re so organized….Monitoring my online time? Hell honey this is the only life I have. Though I will admit I can go sit out back and get more writing done in two hours on an alphie than I can in three days on the computer.
LOL@online sloth…..WHne I write I am fairly disciplined…really!
by Cece McScrooge December 30th, 2004 at 8:01 pmCece - Organised? *snort* I have to have it, or I’d not spare any time for work online.
Steph - it’s just a small utility that I could set time, e.g. 30 mins for ‘play’, then off I go, prowling online. When my time is up, the alarm will either flash or beep [or both] to remind me to get offline. It also has an ability to keep track of how much time I spend online for work reasons as well as displaying world time zones. There are many freeware programs that have all sorts. Here is an example:
http://www.bykeyword.com/freeware/alarm.html
Hope this helps.
by Maili December 30th, 2004 at 11:38 pmI thinkI’ll get an egg timer. I find I really dfo write better if I am on a time limit. Who knows? I’ll try anything once.
by Sasha December 31st, 2004 at 1:28 amAdd my snort to everybody else’s. I justify it by saying I sometimes get story or scenario ideas by what I run across online. I did, however, turn off the little noise Outlook makes every time e-mail comes in. I found that even if I was on a roll in the middle of a scene, that little “ding” had me salivating to see what e-mail had come in. Just call me Pavlov’s dog.
by Lynn December 31st, 2004 at 11:45 amI am a total online addict, and I struggle daily to keep my Internet usage under control. It’s very easy for me to slip into the click and read, click and read monotony of web surfing and then realize hours have passed when I only meant to spend 15 minutes online.
At work, I’m at a computer all day with a T1 connection. Much of my day is mine, depending on the time of day, day of week and point in the semester. Summers are always quiet. Usually, the mornings are good for me, but I still haven’t managed to get a good rhythm in place for writing at a regular time and that causes me concern because I lack the discipline to schedule myself. Of course, when the Internet is down at work, I get a lot of writing done. I remember producing 10 pages once, and feeling so accomplished.
At home, eh… I don’t even bother trying to write with a needy husband and preschool-aged child. Surfing is a lot easier and faster in short bursts when I’m home, though my kitchen surely suffers from a lack of attention.
by Mariann January 1st, 2005 at 5:51 pmMariann,
by SylviaMy kitchen suffers too.