It’s so good to be back and blogging again! I missed it more than I’d thought—and especially missed visiting with all of y’all!
It’s been a busy couple of weeks, starting out with the book tour and then ending up by catching up with family in Alabama and South Carolina—and my daughter’s 9th birthday and subsequent party.
One thing that’s been different from other trips out of state is that I was more plugged in than usual.
I’ve always traveled with my laptop, but usually didn’t connect unless I was at a coffee shop or library.
But now I’ve got a smart phone—the Droid. And, as I’m discovering, it looks like it can do practically anything. Am I lost? (And I had my lost moments on the book tour.) Not for long– I’ve got GPS on the phone and call ask the phone where my destination is. Should I plan outdoor activities tomorrow? Check the weather on the phone. Should I go home and leaf through all the ads in the Sunday paper to find out who has the best deal on school supplies? No…just check it on the phone.
In fact, in a short period of time, my list of things to do has shrunk because I’m getting instant information.
And, boy, does this have a downside.
In the past, when I’ve needed to get some writing done, I’ve escaped—to a place with no Wi-Fi. That way I couldn’t check emails, Twitter, Facebook, the news, or blogs.
Now, there is no escape.
Which means it’s down to me and self-discipline. And my self-discipline varies from day to day. Especially with this devilish distraction in my pocketbook.
I’m thinking I should go back to super-scheduling my time just until I get caught back up and back into the groove again. And, when I’m not working on a couple of deadlines, maybe it won’t matter if I mess around with my phone from time to time.
So, since I’m a list-making and schedule-following junkie, here is my plan:
5:00 a.m.ish: Check emails, but I’m only scanning for really alarming subjects like “Guest Post Today?!” or calendar reminders.
Then start writing. (And make sure the kids are fed, packed up, dressed appropriately, and carpooled to school.)
After I write, I can make sure that Blogger hasn’t eaten my blog post du jour, that Twitter is running on schedule (I tweet ahead) and that I’ve got some sort of a blog post to run the next day.
And probably then read and reply to emails—which does usually take a little time.
And I’ll put my phone wayyyyy across the room. And turn off the internet on my laptop.
Are any of you getting even more distractions in your life? How are you dealing with them?
Welcome back, Elizabeth.
And remind me NEVER to get one of those smart phones. I will never get anything done if I do.
Elizabeth – Welcome back! We’ve missed you! You know, I’ve been thinking about getting a smart phone, but I’m not sure about it for just the reasons you mention.
As far as distractions go, yup, I face them all the time. I try to write in a quiet place, and when I’m writing, I limit going onto Facebook, etc.. That helps. But I also think it helps me to write in smaller dollops of time. I know I’m going to get distracted, so I would rather feel productive about a good solid forty-five minutes of writing than commit to three hours and get interrupted.
Welcome back. The smart phone sounds great but with the drawbacks you mentioned. However, where we live (in the country) I have an advantage – no service in certain areas. It doesn’t matter what type of phone you have, it won’t work. In time I’m sure more towers will be going up and that slice of peace will be gone for me too. BTW, I’m with Helen – I didn’t know you could schedule tweets ahead of time.
Mason
Thoughts in Progress
A few years ago I revolted against the “always available” status of society. I would leave my cell at home or just (gasp!) not answer it when someone called. I still might skip a day on email or (gasp!) blogger if it suits me, though I never intentionally leave my cell at home anymore. That feels to weird.
I understand the desire to have everything at our fingertips and to be able to reach anyone at anytime–but do we all really want OTHER people invading our lives at any moment in any location?
Furthermore…my husband is a financial planner, so every cent we spend is under the microscope. One might think this to be invasive and frustrating, but it’s actually quit interesting to see where we spend the cash that seems to disappear. And for a while it was on extra cell charges. Though I have a phone with Internet capability, we’ve turned that service off and reduced our useage as much as possible. And we don’t even have a home phone!
So…I don’t want to be tied to the e-world all the time. But I applaud those who can find balance.
Welcome back!
Michele
Emily Dickinson biographer on SouthernCityMysteries
We missed you, Elizabeth!
I don’t think I can get a smart phone. I don’t want a phone smarter than the guy pushing the buttons.
Glad you’re back, Elizabeth. I have a Droid also, and I’ve had to learn to minimize my time on it as well. But it’s a very useful little tool. Distractions are just a part of life, I’m finding. I just have to make myself get past them and just write. Easier said than done.
Karen
Welcome back. I don’t have a set way to deal with distractions because my strange brain keeps coming up with ways to sabotage them. So I use different things when something stops working. I’d love to find a permanent solution.
Welcome back! I came back on Monday and it’s lovely to reconnect with everyone. No smart phone for me. I did take my laptop on vacation so I could check my emails, but I would find a phone like yours addicting in the worst way. “I’m on the phone” would take on a whole new meaning!
Welcome home, Elizabeth.
I’m trying to cut back on the distractions. Otherwise, the day is gone before I realize it.
I’ve just about given up on tweeting. I didn’t know you could pre-schedule tweets. I may look into whatever program allows that.
Has it already been a week? Welcome back! I hope you had a great tour and sold loads of books. I noticed the other day that one of *my* blog friends had reviewed “Delicious and Suspicious”. Of course she loved it, and she posted a link to your guest post on cozy mysteries.
And to answer your question: my ´new´ distraction after the wonderful summer holidays is called work :(
I have been really good, though, because I still enjoy my cozy WIP so much: 45.000 words now! So before long I´ll be back and bother you with questions about how to find that agent etc.
Glad you’re back, Elizabeth!!! The blogosphere missed you!
My phone is still the hot pink Razr, hahaha! I’m so old school. Sometimes I’m somewhere where I wish I had the iPhone so I could check the internet, but that doesn’t happen too often. I think it’d be a waste of money right now, plus it’d be too distracting! I already rely on my laptop a lot and I don’t need to start relying on another technological thing, lol. Smartphones are super cool, though!
I check my email first thing, answer all work/urgent emails, then turn it off. It’s the worst time sink I know. Then I do my blog reader, Facebook and Twitter, and allow myself to indulge in them for a while because they really are useful for info and inspiration.
Then I turn them all off and get to work. In the afternoon I re-check email and answer all the non-work non-urgent stuff.
I sometimes allow myself a little midday Twitter time if things are slow.
I’m experimenting with “time chunking” in different formats. 30 minutes with a 10-minute break seems to work quite well – I use the breaks to do chores & household paperwork. If I think I’m going to be particularly productive, I’ll do 50 minutes followed by a 20 minute break.
Distractions are everywhere. Sometimes I think they plan just when to gang up on me :)
I’m avoiding those smart phone, iphone, droid, crackberries! It’s enough that I’m on my home computer and that my laptop can connect in most public eating places these days. You have to disconnect. And, schedule. Yours looks amazing. Carry on! I’m working my way into a good schedule as school days approach – not until Sept. 7 in MN.
Not real well, of late.
I’m envious though. I’m due to up grade and have been looking at the ‘droid.
I do need to get myself back on schedule though. I do lists so when my mind comes back to earth I’m reminded of things like getting milk etc at the store because we’re out. bills to pay, calls to make, blog posts to write.
enjoyed the post!
missed ya sweetie! nah, couldn’t handle that. In fact I was disappointed to find that if I’d brought my laptop I could’ve hooked up on the train. I don’t want everyone to be able to get me or for me to feed my endless desire for more and more contact. Yikes!
hope you’re all relaxed like…Jan Morrison
Rayna–Just say no to technology! It’s great…but it’s a little too great. :)
Margot–And I think with those dollops of time to write, it means that we’re setting ourselves up for success. I can usually do 15 or 20 minutes, but if I *say* I’m going to write for 3 hours, then it’s probably not going to happen.
Helen–It’s Social Oomph (used to be called “Tweet Later.” I really like it..and it helps to connect with people in other time zones.
Mason–So far, even in the wilds of Alabama I haven’t had a connection problem–except in the Costco warehouse. Seems like that place just zaps reception right away! I do really like scheduling tweets–I don’t have time to tweet more than once a day, so I schedule them all in the space of about 45 minutes.
Michele–I was talking about that very thing just the other day! I remember being a kid and when I was sick at school, the school would try to call my mother at home. But if my mom was out running errands or something, then I had to hang out in the sick room–because there were no answering machines or cell phones! Nowadays, I get yanked out of whatever I’m doing and will be at the school in 5-10 minutes. In some ways this is nice, but in others…I know what you mean.
The service is a little less expensive than I thought…unfortunately! If cost were prohibitive, I wouldn’t be tempted to do it. But it does make me long for a simpler time, for sure.
Alan–Thanks! And–I don’t think you’d have a problem at all with a smart phone, Mr. Engineer! But I definitely have my moments where the phone knows a lot more about what’s going on than I do.
Laura–And you’re making a good point–we quickly start *relying* on them! Now I think I’d really miss it and I’ve not even had it very long.
Jane–Oh, emails are the WORST, aren’t they? I can read and reply to emails and wonder where my afternoon went..
I didn’t know it was called time-chunking, but I’ve done it! :) And I think it works really, really well for me as a reward for work done–as long as I don’t go over my allotted time in the block.
Karen–I’m hoping the Droid is just going to turn into a regular tool like any other…right now it’s this bright, shiny object that really pulls my attention away from what I’m doing.
Mary–Our first day back to school was today and I already feel like I got *SO* much accomplished today! I miss the kids, but gosh I get stuff done.
Carol–You sound like you’re too smart to trick yourself! I think there are parts of my brain that are really slow. :) Makes it easy to give myself rewards for good behavior or trick myself into avoiding distractions.
Sia–The only bad thing about the Droid (besides the distraction issue) is the texting–I don’t like the keyboard. Other than that, it’s all too great! Lists are my favorite way to get things done! I just love ticking stuff off the list.
Elspeth–Welcome back to you, too! Yes, a laptop is distracting enough. Another drawback with the phone thing is that I think I look obnoxious when I’m standing there messing with it. Ugh.
Jan–I missed you, too! And I agree–we’re all just a little TOO hooked in, aren’t we? I really did feel very relaxed without being online as much–once I got over my withdrawal symptoms.
Dorte–That’s wonderful! So sweet of her. You’re back to work again? Bleh. That’s always the bad thing about the end of summer. 45,000 is fantastic! Oh, feel free to ask questions about agents…I can talk about agent searches all day (mine took about a million years to find.)
You’re back! I was starting to have withdrawal. :) I love my Iphone though it can be a distraction.
Welcome back! I hope you had a nice break; I know what you mean though about missing blogging – and the people!
Shoot, Elizabeth, I’ve got to hand it to you to even “take on” a Droid, (or any of the can do anything phones). I’m with Alan: I don’t really want a phone that’s smarter than I am. I don’t even know how to use a lot of features on the phone I have!
Oh boy, do I get distracted! I do have a schedule but I also find I have an ADD brain and when I get focused on something, I get super focused and can stay up til 2 in the morning and for days. Then I crash and do nothing for days. That’s where self-discipline comes in. But, it’s not easy. Some one said working with a stop watch.
CD
Good to see you back. I’ve got a Droid but it’s a royal pain to use for much of anything. Too slow, too tiny, and too much trouble. Just getting a decent signal is enough trouble up here.
We went away for a day for our anniversary, and I remained unplugged. (Of course, it was just 24 hours!).
I’m easily distracted, but I’m more likely to play “one game” of Snood that ends up being a marathon. It’s the only game I’ve seen that actually has a “play one more game” option so it’ll shut down after you play that last game.
Meanwhile, 24 hours away, 3 days behind.
Glad you’re back, Elizabeth!
That’s why I don’t have a phone of any kind. And my iPad only works with wi-fi, so it limits me.
That said, I’ve been online a lot and not writing as much.
Welcome back! You’ve been missed!
Yeah… I have way too high a distractability factor to be that connected. I’m sure of it. I can definitely see how handy it is, but I know I’d use the distraction and UNDER use the resources… it is my way (hubby is constantly shocked at the things I haven’t tried to find out online)
It is distracting! I keep my phone on the nightstand, so I woke up at two a.m. the other morning and checked my email. I had a good news email, so needless to say, I didn’t go back to sleep until around five. So, yes, it has good points and bad ones.
Shelley–For some reason I thought the iphone would be even MORE distracting than the Droid, but I’m thinking now they’re probably on par. Good to see you, too!
Crystal–It’s surprisingly a lot easier than you’d think. I think they’re starting to dumb down these phones for all us middle aged types…
Clarissa–But you know, I bet your method is just as effective. So you have a few days off, then you have a few days of crazy activity and productivity…sounds hectic, but like it works for you!
Jemi–They ARE planning! Behind your back. And we never know when a distraction is going to jump out at us…
Alex–You know, somehow I thought the ipad didn’t need wi-fi. Hmm. Maybe that would have been a better purchase for me. But then I guess I still would have needed a phone…
Hart–That’s *exactly* what I’m like! I underutilize what’s actually useful about the thing. Luckily, though, my husband has one too and keeps adding apps on my phone and showing me how to use it…that’s really the only way I can have it be useful.
My Droid has it all, and lately it’s really killing my ability to stay focused. I always want to be connected.
I need to learn how to check email and things once a day.
But, I do like that my phone has a note pad app., and a thinking space app. These really help when I need to jot down an idea quickly.
Virginia Bell
http://www.virginiawashere.blogspot.com
By the way- Love your blog! Thanks for sharing.
I only use my cell phone for talking, if I’m out and have to. I have a nephew and niece who keep me updated, a little. BH has a iPad, which he loves, though it has a few drawbacks, according to him. My niece is headed to Oman, her first assignment with the Foreign Diplomat service. She and my nephew were getting all of her electronic equipment configured,as the government owns the internet service and doesn’t allow other internet service. I was able to watch them work. I’m still old school enough that I like to use my desktop or laptop, and I never was one to talk on the phone. It’s nice to have you back to blogging!
Thanks, Elizabeth.
It’s great to have you back. BTW: excellent schedule. You’ve inspired me to set one for myself. :)
Welcome back! And that’s why I have a dumb phone. It’s the most basic free model I could buy!