{"id":3036,"date":"2011-08-24T05:30:24","date_gmt":"2011-08-24T10:30:24","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/?p=3036"},"modified":"2011-08-24T06:15:13","modified_gmt":"2011-08-24T11:15:13","slug":"the-webs-effect-on-writing","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/2011\/08\/24\/the-webs-effect-on-writing\/","title":{"rendered":"The Web’s Effect on Writing"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"\"Yesterday, I read this article<\/a> on Lifehacker about how surfing the Web at work can make people more productive.<\/p>\n

I wasn’t surprised to hear this. While I work at a desk with a great view of a lake and have everything I need to do my job as a technical writer, aspects of my job aren’t much different than all the warehouse and factory jobs I once worked. (Well, there is<\/em> that luxury of having air conditioning in the office, which is nice during the summer in Texas!)<\/p>\n

A large part of my job is moving things (information) around and eventually breaking it down to tiny steps. In many ways, it reminds me of gathering materials in a warehouse to make something and then put it in a box for shipping.<\/p>\n

Most jobs I’ve had–manual labor and office work–have never been particularly difficult. So that short break to check something else, to pull me from the monotony of what I may be doing, helps keep me focused on work.<\/p>\n

Writing is Different (At Least for Me)<\/strong><\/h2>\n

As I mentioned above, I pay the bills as a technical writer. At times, I do<\/em> have to focus more to understand a process or throw myself completely into a large procedure without distraction. During those times, I force myself to take breaks, but I don’t look at anything online. I walk around and stay in that zone…just like I [usually] do when I’m home and working on a novel.<\/p>\n

When I’m working on a short story, article, or novel, I disconnect from everything<\/em>. The phone goes off and the Web browser is shut down. If my wife is awake, I let her know that I’m going to be writing for several hours. I block out the world with [mostly] instrumental music.<\/p>\n

To take a break and surf the Web or check social media sites when I’m writing makes me anything <\/em>but productive. But there have been times I took that online break in the past year or so because I felt I had to.<\/p>\n

What about My Writing Platform?<\/strong><\/h2>\n

[Okay, so I’m not a fan of referring to what I write as a brand <\/em>or platform<\/em>, but hey–it made for a good subheading.]<\/p>\n

As more people replied to my blog and chatted with me online, I felt like I needed to be available for those people. I know people who make a living by interacting with people online, and some of that philosophy transferred to me in the last year. That, and most of my friends stay in touch through Facebook.<\/p>\n

While I can take a break and check things online when I’m entering edits I’ve already done on a manuscript (mindless work), I can’t do it while writing…but I was doing just that!<\/p>\n

Thanks, Monica!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Monica Valentinelli<\/a>, who was the inspiration for me to cut out social media for 50 days, recently wrote about the compulsion to always be available for her fans<\/a>. In the entry, she writes:<\/p>\n

“Being hyper-connected doesn\u2019t work for me, so I\u2019ve since figured out a better way to manage my time to focus on what\u2019s important.”<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

In the last year it may look like I’ve been productive–recording a podcast<\/a>, releasing ebooks<\/a> and polishing a novel to submit to agents<\/a>–but I worked on things that allowed me to feel productive while dealing with distractions. I worked on things I’d already written, kidding myself that I was being “busy.” Part of the reason I did that was the compulsion to be available to people online.<\/p>\n

I Like People!<\/strong><\/h2>\n

Even when I was so shy that I couldn’t talk to even some people I’ve known for years, I liked people. So I love <\/em>the ability to be online and in touch with people all around the world now that I’m not so shy. More than that, since I often chat with people online about writing, I felt like I was being productive; after all, who was going to buy what I wrote? How was I going to let people know I exist?<\/p>\n

Social media sites seemed like the natural answer, but I’m not so sure that’s the case anymore.<\/p>\n

My 50-day break isn’t an attack against social media. As I stated above, I know people who make a living communicating with others online. My 50-day break from social media is to reinforce what I already know: that–just like Monica Valentinelli–always being online doesn’t work for me.<\/p>\n

I need to manage my time better and focus what’s most important: writing!<\/p>\n

The Social Media Break and Writing<\/strong><\/h2>\n

I’m enjoying my break from the online world so I can be more productive.<\/p>\n

For me, writing isn’t like working in a factory or working at most desk jobs I’ve had–it requires much more focus. Since writing is one of the things I enjoy more than most things in my life, I owe it to myself and to what I love to find that old focus. That means taking this break.<\/p>\n

I’ve already thought about extending the social media break to 100 days; hell, I’ve even tinkered with the thought of staying off social media sites until I finish my next novel!<\/p>\n

That seems like a long time away, but if I focus on what’s important to me, it may not be as long as it would be if I let the Web continue to distract me while doing what I love.<\/p>\n

How about you? Does surfing the Web while writing work, or does it get in the way?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Yesterday, I read this article on Lifehacker about how surfing the Web at work can make people more productive. I wasn’t surprised to hear this. While I work at a desk with a great view of a lake and have everything I need to do my job as a technical writer, aspects of my job […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_genesis_hide_title":false,"_genesis_hide_breadcrumbs":false,"_genesis_hide_singular_image":false,"_genesis_hide_footer_widgets":false,"_genesis_custom_body_class":"","_genesis_custom_post_class":"","_genesis_layout":""},"categories":[39,23,32],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=3036"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3036\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=3036"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=3036"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.christophergronlund.com\/blog\/tjw\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=3036"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}