Friday, September 2, 2011

The Most Interesting Thing--Something's Gotta Give

“The things I want to know are in books; my best friend is the man who'll get me a book I ain't read.” - Abraham Lincoln
So last week I joined Rachael Harrie's #writecampaign, right? Maybe some of you did, too. So the number of posts in my Google Reader has quadrupled and I find myself buried in blog reading. That's not a bad thing, but adding one more thing to my crammed life caused something to fall by the wayside. Not my writing. No, that would be sinful. What's gone away is my ability to keep up with my TBR pile. My fiction addiction. My raison d'être. I read books therefore I  am. 

So tomorrow the television is going away. Not that I watch much, but that box can suck me in with its super powered vacuum hose then spit me out an hour later wondering what happened. I figure I'll save myself at least five extra hours a week. 

So what have you done to buy out extra time? Any suggestions? 

43 comments:

  1. Turn off the internet. ;) That's the only thing that helps me get everything done! Of course, if things on the internet are high on your to-do list, that won't help at all.

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  2. SM--The internet is OFF for the majority of my day. But you're right, limiting time here is extremely important.

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  3. I turned the TV off about a year ago. I don't miss it at all. Plus we're saving money on the monthly cable bill we don't have anymore. I much prefer spending that time reading.

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  4. My tv time has disappeared. I also get up really early to read blogs, and I squeeze time in at work too. Bad me. You should see the blogs I get on my reader. I'm averaging between 100 and 150 posts per day. Obviously, I don't read them all, but I do have my favorites. Lol

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  5. Thanks, Miranda. I read all of them, but don't always take the time to comment. Now I REALLY appreciate hearing from you ^_^

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  6. I also don't have TV. And I'm currently trying to discard my day job.

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  7. I'm seeing an anti-tv trend here, Jaye. Very reassuring. As for the day job, I know myriads of writers who'd like to do the same.

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  8. I haven't had regular TV in 13 years - I really credit that for allowing me to read, write, and love my animals and family and do all the cool teacher things I do.

    We do have a Netflix subscription, but unless it's the weekend or I'm too brain dead to even Internet surf, I find I don't watch much of that either.

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  9. Netflix is what DH is thinking. He's not quite as excited as I am about being TV-Free, but he supports the decision.

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  10. I toyed with signing up for #writingcampaign, but felt like I needed to focus on revisions this month. Maybe the next one.

    Good for you for dumping the TV time! I watch only a few hours a week, but that's a few more hours I could be doing something writing related.

    Good luck with the blogging!

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  11. Thanks, Jeanne. I think you made a wise decision. Best wishes with the revision. We'll all be cheering you on.

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  12. I can sometimes be online, blogging or chatting for hours while I should be writing. I find I have to NOT get online until I've written 1,000 words or more. Then I get on, and surf, blog or tweet.

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  13. Sounds like you've got great self-discipline, Candy. Hope you're day gets better and better.

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  14. Hi, fellow Campaigner. Hey, good question. I'm rationing my TV-watching too. And I'm staying up late to read. Reading Mark Doty's short gem on art: Still Life with Oysters and Lemon: On Objects and Intimacy. Amazing, vibrating prose.

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  15. Hello Campaigner Catherine! Another TV reducer. How do you stay awake to read at night?

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  16. Hi Angela,
    Pleasure to meet you! What I am doing for extra time is getting up earlier. What I am finding is that not only is is a nice start to the day, but the rest of the day goes good too;)

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  17. Personally, I favor giving up housecleaning.

    I also organized my online networking: certain sites I check on daily, others once a week. That helped a lot, to keep me from constantly refreshing and rechecking (although I still check my email a lot! though I don't answer much of it until the weekend.)

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  18. Christyfarmer--The getting up early works great for me in the summer. but then winter arrives and it's very dark. . .

    Jenn--DH does most of the housekeeping (yes, I'm a princess). ^+^ Better organization of online networking sounds like a good plan. Thanks for the tip.

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  19. Umm, yeah, sleep seems to have fallen by the wayside a bit :-)

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  20. I sacrifice sleep. It's probably not the best plan, but it's what I do.

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  21. Kelly and Sarah: If reading blogs deprives you of sleep, I will have to make sure the content here is worth staying awake for ^_^

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  22. I rarely watch TV; it's the Internet that kills my writing time. I like what someone said above, that she only gets on once she has 1,000 words written. Sounds like a great incentive. Think I'll give it a try. Good luck with turning off the TV!

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  23. Thanks, Dawn. And best wishes with the Internet wrangle ^_^

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  24. Hi, I’m a fellow Historical campaigner from group 45, finally getting around to meet everyone. I look forward to reading more and getting to know you. I work part-time, try to set aside some morning time for writing each day, and limit myself to an hour or so of reading blogs in the evenings.
    Good luck with the campaign!

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  25. Nice to meet you, Marcy. I haven't gotten round to the historical group, yet. I think setting a blog-reading limit is a great idea!

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  26. Me, too - avoiding TV is easy. But resisting the urge to open my browser is really hard. I LOVE blogging, reading fellow bloggers *waves* but I need to crack down on my social media time. Which means less blogging. Sigh.

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  27. Melodie--I so appreciate you stopping by. Because we all juggle our time, I try to keep my posts short and sweet ^_^

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  28. Hi Angelina, I joined the campaign too - just weeks after leaping into the online world of blogging (loving it) and Facebook (not so much.) Then on Wednesday I was diagnosed with Carpal Tunnel Syndrome. Looks like I'll be forced to take it easy with the online stuff. Ahh, just when I was starting to have fun.

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  29. inluv--So sorry to hear about the CT. I've chosen not to do Facebook--glad to hear I'm not missing out on something fabulous. Thanks for stopping by. Hope to see you here again ^_^

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  30. I've started to cut out the television except for days when I'm intentionally planning to just sort of cut off from things for a bit, and it's made a world of difference in my productivity, so I think doing so is a great plan. I really, really don't need all that extra mindless distraction going on, and I've really gotten to appreciate peace and quiet in the mornings.

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  31. Yes, lsengler--extra mindless distraction describes it quite well. Peace and quiet are priceless.

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  32. Sounds like a fun thing to do! I'm struggling with time myself. So no answers here! For me usually it's less sleep. I don't watch much TV and sometimes I feel like I don't know what's going on with the world around me.

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  33. This is not original and it's going to sound tangential, but given that productivity and what you achieve in your limited time are key, it's really not. This is it: All those people who said to carry a notebook were right. The thirty seconds it takes you to jot down a bit of dialog or an idea to solve a plot problem that comes to you when you're in the grocery store or sitting in the carpool line can save your hours of flailing during your designated writing time.

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  34. Christina--thanks for your honesty.

    Excellent reminder, Ann. I've scribbled on napkins, the back of envelopes and the like more than once.

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  35. Thanks for the compliment, Nelson. Hope you'll visit again ^_^

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  36. Yay sweetie! Thrilled to hear you joined the platform as well :) And yes, more blog reading equals less time for other things.

    I don't have much for advice...we don't have cable so the tv isn't a problem for me. However...I have to use a timer when I read blogs or research because the time gets away from me very quickly! lol

    Hoping that you get a chance to escape into a book very soon! *hugs*

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  37. Time is always an issue for us writers. I used to play a lot of games. Not so much anymore ;)

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  38. Marie--a timer is a great idea. I know other's who do that.

    Lynda--before I started writing I played a lot of games, too. Thankfully I prefer writing ^_^

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  39. I cut extra time out of my days by spending sunday writing all my blog posts for the week so I don't have to worry about them the rest of the week. It eats up my Sunday, but then I can write in all the extra times throughout the week.

    I also do not have TV. I have A TV, but I don't have access to cable or channels. It is hooked up to my XBox which I sometimes watch Netflix streaming through, but not very often. This has helped from distractions the most.

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  40. Sommer, I believe we have consensus on the TV thing. I try to have my posts ready ahead of time, too. Great suggestion.

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  41. I just don't have time for TV. I've never watched it during the day because I can't imagine being inside doing that. At night I have a ton of things I want to do before I fall face down into bed: eat dinner, for one; read a good book; clear my desk for the next day's writing.

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  42. Yes, cleemckenzie. Exactly the point.

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