It’s amazing how much I take the web for granted now. It feels like it was always here and, in many ways (couldn’t resist!), I wonder how I ever got by without it. I can listen to an unlimited supply of music, read more words on any subject than I could possibly manage in a lifetime, answer any question I might have in a matter of seconds, find my way from any A to any B and buy a bewildering array of goods from all corners of the earth. Brilliant, convenient, informative…and infinitely distracting!
The problem for me is keeping my mind on any one task on a computer for any length of time. I am trying to complete my second novel and doing ok with over 68,000 words committed to ‘paper’. However, every time I sit down to write I find myself drawn into checking Facebook, Twitter, sports results, my first books’ ranking on Amazon and email-both work and personal. I know all the jokes about men and multi-tasking, but it is not that I can’t multi-task (honest), it’s just that I am constantly thinking as I do it that I shouldn’t be.
I wonder how many folks have the discipline to work on a computer without indulging in all these distractions? Do you? I wish I had the will power and self-discipline but I fear I am too inquisitive (nosey) and easily distracted (procrastinator). It’s just that some of the stuff that distracts me is incredibly helpful in terms of writing or work or just the expansion of my knowledge and understanding of the world around me. A lot of it isn’t!
Do I have an answer to this problem? Do I need one? Well, I am not sure. I think I could be more productive if I shut off the web as I wrote, but I suspect the fear of missing something would be too strong to resist, and the inability to instantly quell my anxiety about this would be just as distracting!
So, I am bound to say, on balance, I will keep my marvellous menace switched on and get less/more done…probably.
(You will be pleased to know that I checked Facebook and Twitter twice while writing this and had the football commentary running on the radio as well)
I hear you. It’s hard to write when you have so many distractions these days. I often find myself researching something on the web when something online catches my eye or I receive a text. It’s difficult to ignore. I find that if I’m on my laptop, I shut off the wi-fi and try to write in seclusion from the world wide web. But after finishing I’m back twitter of facebook. I saw in your email that your going with smashwords. The more I have been reading about them, they seem like a good choice. I am leaning towards them, just working on the ebook cover and formatting may need some extra help. I receieved a list of people who do those things for authors at a reasonable price so it seems like a good e-publisher to work with. Good luck and great blog post.
Thanks Anthony. I am still finding my way too and can’t tell you for definite whether Smashwords has been a good move or not yet. I just figured I might as well put as few objects in people’s way in terms of buying as I can. Amazon Kindle has a massive market share and will drive the vast majority of sales, but they all count!
Good luck with your book too. Look forward to hearing more about it when you publish.