I was going to call this post, "Bright Shiny Balls," but I thought some people might take offense. Or not, as the case may be.
We live in an Attention Economy, where we are too easily distracted by bright, shiny objects. Try watching commercial television, where a man screams that you must, absolutely must buy this product immediately, but wait, there's more because if you buy right this very instant, you'll get two for the same price, except for shipping and handling. And when the commercial runs again in an hour, you get the same offer.
Our attention spans are shrinking daily. I used to believe that this all started with USA Today, which synthesized news articles to fit on one page. Only the main story in each section jumped to an interior page. Now, we get news snippets on important topics in all the local papers. "World Headlines," "News in Brief," etc. If we want "News in Long," we have to go to a major newspaper or online to read a more comprehensive story.
I'm exhausted with everything that vies for my attention. I don't want to know what's going on in the world every single minute of the day. I don't want to know that someone posted a picture of her dinner on Instagram. I don't care if you took 100 selfies and posted them all on Pinterest. Sometimes, I like being in the dark, quietly writing with all electronic notifications turned off.
For the last two weeks in February, hubs and I were on vacation in Florida, where all the local news was about the tragedy in Parkland. We talked about this and other topics poolside with other guests at the Silver Sands Villas where we stay every year. Deep conversations. Rewarding conversations. Distracting, in a good way, conversations. As we were driving home, hubs commented that one thing he truly enjoyed was talking with and listening to people face to face. I agreed. So often our conversations are bright, shiny objects over Facebook, blogs, or email. God forbid, we have a conversation in Tweets or texts. Still, these bright, shiny objects make up most of our interpersonal communications today.
I vowed to control this Attention Economy by turning off notifications when I write, limiting news viewing to a time of my choosing, and not getting distracted by the myriad voices wanting me to do or buy something.
Oh wait, I have to jump off and buy one of the Slimming Sauna Shorts before the two-for-one special goes away. OMG! I got two pairs! See ya.
Showing posts with label distractions. Show all posts
Showing posts with label distractions. Show all posts
Saturday, March 17, 2018
Thursday, July 21, 2016
Sit in the darn chair by Barbara Edwards
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| Barbara Edwards with another family distratcion |
One of the biggest problems of any author is ignoring distractions and concentrating on writing. I’ve ben so guilty of doing ‘other’ things and pushing my writing to the back of my desk. Let me share a few.
I signed up for an on-line class on using Scrivener. I told myself I need to know how to use this really helpful writing tool. I did. And I do. the class was helpful in that I learned how to keep my efforts all in one handy area. Now I need to make some efforts.
Can you believe I went on Pinterest to do research? I had to ask my granddaughter how to use search, but it did work. I wanted photos of Afghanistan and found dozens that I had to search through. A time waster? Yes and no. I could have gone to the library for books, checked on google, or waited until I was ready to start my manuscript.
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| Lilies in my gaarden |
Another time hog? Email is one. I spend up to two hours a day deleting emails. Oh yeah. Is this necessary? Another yes and no. I have several loops that are for promo. I retweet, I share on Facebook, I comment on other blogs. This gets my name out there so when my books need promo it is reciprocated.
I did mention my husband had a medical problem this past winter. We’re still going to doctors on a regular basis and it cuts into my writing time like an axe. I have tried taking my laptop with me and writing, but the ‘other’ stuff takes over. I have used that time for the emails so it isn’t a total loss.
I use my gardening to push writing back. After all, those weeds don’t pull themselves out of the ground. Maybe the gardening is an okay distraction. It clears my mind. I plot as I work. And in the end I have the benefit of some pretty flowers.
What do you do that keeps you from your writing?
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Website http://barbaraedwards.net
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