I Gave Away My 3DS

I used to play Diablo II. My rather elderly computer started running out of disk space and I had to uninstall all programs that weren't vitally necessary. There went all my DII files.

I still have the occasional craving, but this year I completed two manuscripts, sold one and am in the middle of a third. That's a good feeling.

My biggest way to not write lately seems to be spending time on these forums. I don't see myself going away anytime soon, but I may impose a time limit and have my hubby block the site at all other times.

My biggest obstacle is work. I have yet to figure out how to free up more time from that for writing. :/ As it is, I get to write a couple of days, then I get too busy for the next couple, and it's hard for me to get back in the swing of things when I'm not writing every day. I feel like I spend more time just trying to remember where I was going with something than I do actually writing.

I thought Animal Crossing would cause this for me, but luckily that addiction tapered off.

The Steam Sales are another challenge entirely, though...

kaitie said:

I feel like I spend more time just trying to remember where I was going with something than I do actually writing.

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That's where I am now with a resurrected WIP. Getting back into the mindset. I need to see how far I outlined it. Not to the end, I know, but maybe there's a skeleton I can find to help me.

I have big time wasters. I know I need to cut back on them. Congratulations to you for taking that step.

I hope he takes care of your cows!

kaitie said:

My biggest obstacle is work.

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Yeah my job's physically demanding and therefore quite tiring. We're moving soon and mrK will get a job, then we'll move house and then I'll start looking in earnest. I have a plan that during this 'between jobs' period I will write as if it were my full time job.

If I find I can work at that intensity and we're managing on one income I might extend the experiment for a little while (like six months) and see how it goes. I would assume that eventually I would need to go back to work part time at least because the chances of me being lucky enough to bring in substantial amounts of money that way seem quite remote. But it would be a space to really 'go for it' on the writing front for a little while.

work for me, also. I work a full-time job and another part-time job on top, which amounts to 45+ hours a week. By the time I get home I'm wiped.

I work 4 days a week, 10 hr days, plus school some terms. No way for me to write at work, except on my half-hour lunch break I guess, but that's just for decompression. The days I work - I don't write.

But I have no excuses for my days off. I am my own obstacle.

I tend to waste four hours a day trying to memorize all 22k incorporated cities in the United States. I'm trying to break the habit.

My problem is that my job is one that generally requires me to bring work home. I'm teaching, which means planning lessons, grading, making tests and worksheets, etc. I actually had a day last week when I'd finished everything I needed to do before I went home for the first time in weeks.

I'm trying to get more time efficient, but I'm teaching four classes I've never taught right now, and that just makes it tough. Each class is a brand new lesson I've never done. I think as I get more experience teaching the same classes it'll get easier, but right now I just can't figure out how to cut my time down. It's also what's paying the bills, though, so there aren't a whole lot of options.

MrK is a teacher so I know what an absolute time sink it can be - it must be hard finding time and energy to write.

On the bright side, I'm giving tests today and tomorrow, so I can work while I proctor. I've written more today than I have in two weeks!

You're allowed to do something else while monitoring exams? Our teachers have to sit and stare at the poor kids.

I've not got any writing done recently. As the weather's hot I've been coming home from work in the afternoon and then going back in the cooler evening. Which means my evening disappears and I'm too hot/tired in the afternoon. Grrrrr

EMaree said:

The Steam Sales are another challenge entirely, though...

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The ONLY thing that is saving me is not having money.

The ONLY thing.

Maythe said:

You're allowed to do something else while monitoring exams? Our teachers have to sit and stare at the poor kids.

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Yup, I can do whatever I like as long as I watch them. I sit everyone so I can see them all from my desk, and I don't actually have to look at the computer to type, so I can be working on the story and looking around at the students at the same time.

I'm safe from Steam because I don't like playing games on the computer. I prefer console.

I have to be careful because I'm absolutely addicted to Dropwords, which is a Kindle word game. I spend waayyyy tooo much time playing that game, but I feel a bit smarter.

bearilou said:

The ONLY thing that is saving me is not having money.

The ONLY thing.

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This.

I have never been more broke in my life than I am now. Two months ago, I would've bought Injustice, NfS, and Bioshock without blinking an eye. Now, I actually have to cancel Netflix because I can't afford it.

Maybe I'll actually get some writing done if my Netflix is off. Still, I've already paid for Amazon Prime until May of next year... and YT is free. Sigh. Maybe I should've just not paid my internet bill. But where would I be writing wise without AW?

Oh man, Harvest Moon...yea. That can be a time-sink! Lucky for me, I get bored with specific video-games after a while.

My current time-sinks are Tumblr and sometimes Twitter. But I've actually managed to wean myself down to very brief periods on Tumblr each day. I turned off the endless scrolling, and then I give myself only 1 or 2 pages to look at each time, and only look once or twice a day.

Other than that, the "part-time" job and full-time mom-to-a-toddler thing really eat up my energy and creativity. Luckily, the job will taper off after next week as it goes into off-season and I'm starting to get some writing done during the day even with the Munchkin so I can write before I'm totally wiped-out in the evening.

Time management is HARD though.

For me, it was meandering around the internet. Reddit. Ihazcheezeburger. (What? It's funny.) So on and so forth. Nowdays I look at them once and then move on. If I catch myself going back, that means its time to open up the word doc.