How many minutes (hours?) a day does it take you to properly attend to your platforming (i.e. social networking?) needs? By properly I mean interacting with online contacts, following their links and staying up to date on what’s happening in the writing world (like reading blogs from Jane Friedman, Chuck Sambuchino, Penelope Trunk, Janet Reid, etc.) Then there’s Twitter (and all the amazing and talented people I’m following) and Facebook. This all takes time, but as a business person it’s critical (and I enjoy it!!) One of my next moves will be to narrow my commitments to sites that seem most active and valuable (like Writer’s Digest Community). So I’m looking for strategies. Let me know how you keep it under control?
Good, thought-provoking questions! I think it comes down to balance. As writers, we all have a tendency to procrastinate — we put off what’s hard (and what’s hard is the WRITING!!). We try to justify this procrastination by saying we need to check e-mail 40 times a day, we need to read our favorite bloggers (and the comments), we need to maintain an active presence on Facebook, etc. For some writers, that tendency toward procrastination turns into things like needing to do the laundry, needing to clean the house, needing to go shopping (you know, to spur the Muse into action!). I think we all could use a periodical review to discover just how much time we’re devoting to “STUFF” and how much we’re actually writing. Then, maybe we’ll convince ourselves that what we really need is to plant our butts in the chair and WRITE!
Best lesson on sitting down and JUST WRITING: Recently, I was fortunate to go on a cruise. Brought netbook (a cute IBM 3.5-pounder!) On many days I went up to the Sky Lounge (bar by night, undiscovered by day) where there was a comfy place to sit, an abundance of quiet, and NO INTERNET. I got some of my best work done there. Now back home I try to replicate that experience. (Of course, all the bars in Hemet open early….)