Tuesday, January 6, 2015

IWSG: What do you do with Time Feeders?

What is the Insecure Writers Support Group?

Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds! Be sure to check out some of the other writers/bloggers at this link: Insecure Writer's Support Group


Happy New Year Everyone! I hope the new year brings you everything you've ever dreamed of in both your real life & writing career. Have you made a list of resolutions?

No long list of resolutions for me this year...but I am looking at setting mini-goals...looking at things I'd like to accomplish in 2015 and planning the steps that will take me there. My mini-goals include things like getting more organized, sticking to my writing schedule, blogging more often, and a big one for me - putting a halt to the Time Feeders!

In looking back at 2014, I've identified some ravenous Time Feeders that are gorging away, filling up on my time...more specifically - on my writing time.  I'm determined to slap the shackles on them this year & starve them out. What are Time Feeders? Anything that eats up your precious writing time!  For me, it's things like email (afterall, a girl needs to check it several times a day, right?), surfing the net (gotta do that research...Oh look - Another sale on shoes!), Twitter (getting the word out is important), Pinterest (what's life without pictures?), Goodreads (what? Oh yeah...gotta share your latest reads & promote your favorite author - plus yourself)...okay, you get the picture! These are all important things to do - they truly are...BUT they are also gigantic Time Feeders! How many days do you start out just doing a quick check of your email or Facebook account before settling down to work on your book or an article? How many of those days do you suddenly realize it's 2 or 3 hours later, and you're still checking email, FB, Twitter, or a combo of all the above?  I'm telling you it's those pesky Time Feeders!

I'm guilty of wasting way too much time with all the Time Feeders - also called Social Media accounts.  So, one of my main mini-goals in 2015 is to stop wasting time.  Period.  I'm setting daily time limits on myself for using my social media accounts.  I'm not saying it'll be easy to break old habits (it's an addiction) but it comes down to what's most important to me right now. I need more writing time. I spend a lot of time on social media. I need to devote more of that time to writing. So, Mini-Goal #1 for me: Starve the Time Feeders!  How about you?  Are you guilty of allowing social media to monopolize your time?


Again, Happy New Year everyone! I hope your 2015 is a happy, healthy, prosperous one. And I hope you can spend at least a little of it somewhere as beautiful as this beach.   And as with starfish, remember that sometimes it's the little things that count the most...one at a time.

Sandra

Cross My Heart...xxx

5 comments:

Nick Wilford said...

These are definitely things that can take over if you let them! Good for you for "gettng tough" and setting limits. Great advice for anyone. Hope you achieve your minigoals for 2015.

Nancy Gideon said...

What starts out as a quick glance turns into more than half the time you've set aside to finish that chapter . . . oh do I know what you're talking about. Social media is like that open bag of potato chips . . . just one more, then another. Time to go on an Internet diet for both of us!

Sandra Hoover said...

A few minutes here or there multiply into hours...It's an addiction. Thanks for stopping by, Nick.

Sandra Hoover said...

And I do love chips! I'm definitely ready for an Internet diet...I always have good intentions but get caught up in checking just one email or Tweet or...well, you know! I'm thinking about using a timer with a bell...Seriously! :)

Lisa said...

I too, have a bad Time Feeder habit and have already taken steps to cut those down. I'm setting up a schedule as well for those things. With marketing on my plate right now, I have no room for anything else but writing/blogging and fulfilling the commitments already made... Great post! Glad I'm not alone...