Two weeks ago, I unplugged for the work week. No television. No Twitter. No Facebook for five days. Why? I found I was becoming more of a networker than a writer. Social networking is helpful, but not at the expense of my writing time. And television wasn’t helping either. I decided to see what would happen if I unplugged for the work week.
What happened? I found HOURS, friends, I discovered time I never knew was available. Blocks of time at my disposal! It was a glorious week of productivity. I wrote. I revised. I even scrubbed the kitchen floor. When the week ended, I promised myself I would monitor my online time better.
Did I? Nope. Seems it’s all or nothing once I log on. Last week I spent one day writing. One. *sigh*
So here’s my new idea. I’m limiting which days I network. Days with big blocks of time without kids are off limits. Those days are for writing and revising. Days with little slips of time here and there to check in? Those will be my social networking days. I’m excited to give my new schedule a try.
What do you do to balance your writing time with your social networking time? Leave a comment and share your ideas.
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I set a hard limit of no more than an hour and a half to Tweet and Facebook. I try to do it at the same hour every day. This makes it easier to enforce and creates a routine which is easier to follow. I've found this works for me well.
ReplyDeleteHi Laura! I too struggle with how to balance online networking and offline writing. I used to logoff at 5 and have evenings for family and writing. Weekends were harder as I had a lot more time to read blogs, follow Twitter, update Facebook (basically not write). I think what I might try next is a quick update in the morning, logoff to write till noon, check in during lunch at snack break (3pm) and still keep evenings for family.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the ideas!
Pooh! You really know how speak to me! I have been in semi-unPlug mode this week. It has been lovely. Always striving for balance. Always. Never quite achieving it and maintaining. One day a week might suffice for the social networking stuff and perhaps cut back to twice a week for writing my own blog stuffs.
ReplyDeleteForgive any spell/writing issues b/c I am writing this on my phOne and it is known to do funky thongs!
Umm... I meant funky THINGS.
ReplyDeleteIt sounds like scheduling is key for both of you. Thanks for sharing with us. :)
ReplyDeleteDonna-- Bwahahaha! That's one of the funniest typos I've seen. I've missed you on Twitter, but understand.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on finding creative time! I watch too much tv but keep a journal with me everywhere. It's great for the carpool line.
ReplyDeleteThat's a great idea, Cindy. You never know when inspiration will hit.
ReplyDeleteIronic that I'm taking time away from my writing too comment here...lol...not really, but kind of. I could so completely derail into hours of networking and surfing so I limit my online time. Sometimes it feels like I miss out on some things - YALitchat on Twitter sounds so great, but I can't always find the time for that. I'm selective - only follow a few blogs and tweet when I have something of interest to say...otherwise I'd just be wide-eyed and glazed over at the computer! I really like the idea of limiting it to an hour a day - and a specific time. Great post Laura!!
ReplyDeleteGreat post and helpful comments. Lately I've been immersed in uncontrolled social networking. It's been a form of escape and procrastination. But spring is here and now I can do the same with gardening! I think I need to come back to this post a few times for inspiration. Wait, isn't that what I need to avoid? Maybe I should just not pay Time Warner for a few months.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of keeping blocks of available time off-limits for social networking. It's easy to "feel" like you're being productive when in fact a lot of it is time being taken from the writing. But checking in is one thing that can be done with distractions, so better to use time when multiple things are going on for that.
ReplyDeleteThanks, everyone. I'm glad to know I'm not the only one playing the balancing game. Keep the ideas coming. I know we can make this work!
ReplyDeleteI so here you, there seems to be a lot of things I've had to do recently sucking up my time. I suddenly have Thursdays kid free though, so maybe I should make that my pc free day :)It's hard to crack on with writing in such interruptable time anyway.
ReplyDeleteCompletely understand what you are saying here. Let us know how this works out for you. Because of my day job, I could never do this but, like you, I need to manage my open time so that my writing comes first and not simply something that I fit in. Good luck!
ReplyDeleteGood luck with your schedule. I like you Pub Sub 3rd Fri Participant badge. Cool. Do something fun for yourself today!
ReplyDeleteJoan Y. Edwards