Friday, February 24, 2012

Being More Productive

So I'm now on day 11 of my facebook fast. It's been both harder and easier than I thought it would be. It's been easier in that while I like facebook and miss it, I don't have a longing to get back on that I constantly have to fight. It's not _that_ big a deal to be off of it. Except when it is. That's the hard part -- there are a few times when it's been really hard to stay off. When I know friends are hoping for travel dates and I want to see if anyone's gotten any. When I see a blog post about certain kids who someone's met in country, and know they've shared more details on facebook. When I see a post about a friend struggling and know other friends are rallying on facebook to provide support. Those are the things it's hard to stay away from. Hopefully I can remember that when I get back on facebook, and use it sparingly and specifically with those things in mind.

Overall the fast has been good for me, from a self-discipline standpoint if nothing else. I can be very self-disciplined when I put my mind to it, but I don't often decide it's worth the effort, so it's good to remind myself I have it in me. I've also spent less time on the computer, which was part of the point, but I'm still spending more time than I should, and not as productively as I'd hoped. With that in mind, I'm setting a new limit for myself. I have 30 "free" minutes every day to read e-mails, blogs, etc. I do need some down time, and I do need to feel like I can stay connected to friends who are far away. After that, though, if I want to spend time on the computer not working (i.e. paying bills, doing taxes, scheduling doctor appts, etc), first I have to write.

For those who don't know me IRL (probably a lot of you), I write. I write science fiction and fantasy novels. Or at least I try -- I have yet to actually finish one. But I do have well over 100K words written between my various works-in-progress, so it's something I'm fairly serious about. However, lately I pretty much haven't been writing. I was hoping being off of facebook would get me to spend more of that computer time churning out words, but no such luck so far. It's not entirely surprising -- I could barely scratch out a word while pregnant, and this isn't so very different. But it's something I like and enjoy, even if it is hard work, and since it's something I hope to possibly, someday, make a living with, it's something I need to be better about doing every day whether I'm in the mood for it or not.

So for the next two days I have to have 100 words written before I get any more computer play time (really not at all hard, but it's good for me to start small and build up), and the rest of the week I have to have 250 words written. Not that this matters that much to any of you, but publicly declaring it will help keep me honest with myself about actually doing it, so that's what I'm using this space for today. I'm determined to be more productive, and hopefully this will help get me there!

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