I don't know if you heard the trumpets last week, but my youngest started kindergarten--which means that for the first time in 16 years I have the house to myself for over five hours straight. (No, I don't have a dozen kids... there's just a ten year age gap between my oldest and my youngest.)
I have been looking forward to some concerted writing time for a while. I'm heading towards the end of the first draft of my latest manuscript, and I really need to put in the hours so I can write those glorious words THE END before year's end. (That's my goal and I'm sticking to it.) But I knew I would be hard pressed to do that if I didn't take steps to quieten the social media hubbub to which I've become a part.
Two and a half years ago I didn't have a blog--let alone three. I wasn't on Facebook. I turned up my nose at Twitter. (And no, I'm not yet pining for Pinterest, or whatever is the latest social media du jour.) Don't get me wrong: I have enjoyed being a part of the interwebs and have met many dear people whom I now call friends (including all of you who are reading this.) But I was becoming addicted. I'd write a paragraph of my story, and then check my e-mail. Another sentence, and I'd shoot a glance at Twitter. As you can guess, being the debutante at the social media ball was beginning to eat away at my precious writing time.
So, I've gone COLD TURKEY. Yes, I've found a handy little app ("It's like your parents on steroids," it claims) that will block all sites for however long I want on any particular day. Usually, I'm at my desk at 9:30, and the kids come back between 2:30 and 3:30. So I've set my Cold Turkey settings accordingly. Between those hours, I can't go on Yahoo! or update my Facebook status, or seeing what the tweeps are tweeting about. I can't even while away the time on my favorite blogs.
I'm getting a whole lot of writing done, and feeling like I have my willpower back. Have you tried Cold Turkey, or any other site like it? How did it go?
