The Curse of the Internet

Valentine's Day is my target.  I want to be done with my first draft of Book 2 by February 14.  To meet that objective I need to write about 5,000 words a week.  Should be no problem-o, right?  In my last year of grad school, I wrote at an even faster pace to get my thesis in on time.  But here's the difference: there was no Internet then.  Right now I'm sitting in a cafe, connected via WiFi, rapping away on my blog, not writing fiction.  And even when I am writing, there are other blogs to check (First Offenders' list of blogs is entitled "Blogs We Read When We Should Be Writing"), sports scores to stay on top of, email to check, etc.  Of course, using the Net to do research is easy and fast compared to library work, but I keep finding myself going from link to link until I am learning lots about Ahmose I  and the 18th Dynasty of Ancient Egypt, but nothing that moves Book 2 along.  Shut down Wikipedia!

Anyone else have Internet-fostered ADD?

Comments

[patti abbott]

Are you kidding? I went away for two days without my laptop so as not to have my traveling companions think me crazy and I spent the entire time eyeing the public library across the street. My daughter gave it up completely two months ago though and said it gave her an hour a day back.

[Sue Ann Jaffarian]

The Internet to me is like a big ole candy store and I'm a five year old with a pocket full of nickels.

This is another reason why I opted to get a Neo by AlphaSmart instead of another laptop -- no Internet, no games, no e-mail, etc., etc. Just writing!

[Craig]

Parental controls are usually set up by parents for their kids. However, in this case, maybe your kids could set up "Parent Control" to keep you in check. They could check the "Nothing Educational Allowed" box.

(As if I'm anyone to talk--I'm sending this through our wireless DSL in our mountain retreat.)

[Shelly King]

I kept the internet and gave up TV. I'm much happier:-) Happy New Year!

[STS]

Internet ADD -- that's me!

Update on Dot Dead readership in my household. I read it before Xmas, thoroughly enjoyed it. Gave it to my wife as a gift and she virtually inhaled it.

So two readers here waiting for book 2 ... does that help with the ADD?

[Keith Raffel]

Some comments:

I need the Internet for research so I can't go cold turkey, Patti and Shelly.

Sue Ann, the Neo's screen seems awfully small.

Craig, do you have some sort of parental control device that you would recommend? Come to think about it, do you have a children's control device you could recommend? Someone asked me about that.

Seth, glad your wife liked it. Two readers already lined up for Book #2! I'd better get cracking.

[Sue Ann Jaffarian]

Keith,

Make that 3 readers for book 2.

And the Neo screen is small, but it's intended for original input not for final editing. When the final edits need to be done I'll be wrestling again with the Internet ADD. I'll let you know how the Neo works out.