Get Off the Internet!!!

We all know it, right? If we'd spend less time on the internet, we'd get more writing done. Or we'd at least have better looking hair? Maybe that's just me...

But, unfortunately, knowing that and doing it (staying off of facebook, twitter, pinterest, others' blogs and all the other time-killers) is not the same thing. How much time do you think you waste on-line?

I fritter away a few minutes here and a few minutes there. And it's time I could have been jotting down notes or spiffing up a scene. Or it's time I could have spent taking care of things in my home, things I need to get done so I can have the writing time later. Or time with my crazy fun kids.

We can't always wait for glorious uninterrupted hours to write. Sometimes we have to fit it into the here and there....instead of filling those cracks with the internet*.

And I know. The internet is fun. I'm having my own struggles. It's fun to read the blog posts, to pin the yummy looking chocolate cookies, to see what people are tweeting and to look at your **friend's new cat pictures on facebook (ok. maybe that one isn't so tempting) but you have to ask yourself...

At the end of the day will I be happy with how I used my time?

I read this post yesterday (Yes. I was wasting time on twitter and came across the link to this post.) Ten Things I Wish I Would Have Done Differently by Natalie Whipple whose first book is coming out next year. Number two is she wishes she hadn't spend so much time on-line. The rest are awesome, too. Check it out.

Alright, how cool is this steampunk laptop?

Last night, I tried an experiment. I'd gotten all the little ones to bed. My husband can't kick a cold and he crashed to sleep. And I told myself I'd write for two hours without allowing myself to take a break and check anything....no twitter-watching, no meandering through facebook, no taking five minutes to pin a few things on pinterest. Nope. Nothing.

I managed to revise 12 pages. And I would have done more if my eyelids hadn't kept trying to slide shut. I had to delete a few sentences since I started dream typing. Anyone else done that? I closed my eyes while I was typing and the next thing I knew I was writing some very odd things. Too bad I don't remember them...

So, I did take a break at one point, but it wasn't on the internet. I walked into the kitchen and put away the pancakes that got left out after dinner. I took care of a couple other things. And then I got back to work.

It makes me sick to think of all the time I've wasted, all the time I've had two hours to write and I've wasted half of it getting sucked into clicking around reading about....stuff.

A cute friend of mine, Caitlyn Byers, started up a blog and she shared some of her notes from LTUE this year. One of my favorites is from Brad R. Torgersen...

"Get the heck off the internet!"*** 


(and, yes, I censored his statement...my son reads my blog, people!)

So, here it is, an extra day of the year. Extra time. Will you squander it away looking at other people's lives, reading about publishing deals, drooling on your computer at the food on pinterest or will you find more time to write?

Will you make the writing more important than the internet?

*This post does not reflect the intentions of its author 100% of the time. Said author of post will still spend time on Twitter, Facebook and Pinterest. 


**The author will still read her friends' blogs. She will still read strangers' blogs. She will probably even look at pictures of her friend's new cats. Maybe.  But she will attempt to do this less. Especially the cat bit. 


***But if you're still here and you need a good laugh, check this out.