Surfing through Time

I’ve just passed my 10th anniversary. Oh, not of my marriage. 10 years ago this past June I broke my chalk and picked up a keyboard. Yep — I became a fulltime writer. And it’s amazing to me how things have changed in my life.

The first year it was me and the computer. Simple. I got up I figured out where my story was going and I wrote. Family members were my beta readers. They read. They critiqued. I adjusted. What a simple life of writing. And one that made me very happy.
 

Then I found online classes. Online forums. Online critique partners. Online groups of writers. Being a social animal. I was in heaven. I got my first contract. A MySpace page (remember those?). A website (which has now been updated with two MAJOR overhauls over the years). A blog. I had fun keeping up with all of them and still managed to get my writing done.

But now?

Now I’m on GoodReads (and haven’t figured that out), Twitter (which I love but seems like such a time suck) and Facebook (an easy platform that gets me out to all kinds of people). I used to make book trailers for myself and others which are displayed not only on YouTube, but YourBookTube, Blazing Trailers, Google and Yahoo videos. I dipped my foot into other group blogs and ended up sticking with only one. And it seems like every week there’s a new place where authors are hanging out online to meet readers.

(I feel so bad because there are blogs written by friends that I would love to visit but I don’t seem to find the time. They always seem to have something fun an interesting, but with every other thing going on, I just can’t seem to get there.)

And now I’m doing freelance writing for several websites.

Whew. Just writing that makes me tired. And though I’m home writing full time I can spend a whole day on the internet surfing, swallowing time and never do any writing. And though I thoroughly enjoy talking with my online friends I go to bed feeling guilty.

I keep telling myself that I’m going to figure out the balance of online time vs. writing time. I know some authors have computers that aren’t hooked up to the internet and their serious writing is done on that computer. I’m thinking I’m going to have to do something along those lines because the siren call of the internet is too strong for me to resist.

And though I’ve decided it’s time to stop dilly-dallying, I didn’t jump into NaNoWriMo National Novel Writing Month … that seemed like too much of a commitment. Instead, I’ve picked up a book on writing an outline and planning a book.  I’ve never done that. But I’m thinking I need something to keep me focused and moving forward. I’ve got lots of books in my head and my characters are clamoring to get out to the readers. So, I’m going to write every day. Period. It’s time to get this writing gig back on track.

Who’s with me?