Time and Priorities for Writers


Photo credit: pOOfkAt on Flickr
So the other day I wrote a post about Why I'm Glad I Joined Twitter in which I basically wrote 500 words about how awesome Twitter is, especially for writers.

However. As awesome as Twitter and other social media sites (hello tumblr and Facebook) are, there is one very scary danger that we writers are particularly vulnerable to: the Time Suck of Doom.

All writers have their own time management challenges. Many of us have a full time job, or are full time students, or full time parents or some combination of all of the above, and then on top of that we're writers and we're putting together a book (or books) and maintaining a blog and popping in to Twitter and Facebook and tumblr to try to keep our web presence from shriveling up and dying, all while trying to remember to eat three square meals a day and keep a healthy lifestyle (oh, and someone needs to do laundry. You should probably get on that).

Point being, writers don't often have an abundance of time— and we rarely have any time to waste.

So when you consider just how easy it is to fall into the trap of spending hours scrolling through your Twitter/tumblr/Facebook feed (what I like to call the Time Suck of Doom), social media can be just as dangerous as it is useful.

Truth is, too much of anything can be a bad thing, and social media is no exception. For writers, our number one priority (after family, bills and remaining generally healthy) must be the writing. It doesn't matter what you're writing, what matters is that you constantly improve it, add to it, practice it until you have a finished manuscript (or four), and then when you've completely polished it and are ready for publication, you keep writing.

Because for writers, there is nothing more important than improving our writing skill. Because yes, the connections you make through social media are fantastic and yes, a web presence is important for writers in this day and age and yes, you do find some really incredible and useful links through social media, but the writing must always come first.

So next time you catch yourself surfing the web/streaming videos/playing XBox when you know you really should be writing that book/blog post/poem/short story, remember what your top priority is as a writer and get back to work.

You can tweet about it later.

What do you do to fight the Time Suck of Doom?

16 comments:

Daphne Gray-Grant said...

I limit my time to 15 minutes per day on Twitter. Yes, it can be done! I also post nine x per day and I thank everyone who RTs me!

Angie Richmond said...

Question: Did you go inside my brain and pull out my thoughts? I'm completely struggling to keep all my creative tasks in order. Thanks for the reminder that Twitter is sucking my time :) It totally is!

Ava Jae said...

I was always amazed when I heard that some top social media mavens only spend 15-30 mins a day on Twitter--now I entirely understand why (and how) they can do it. Between scheduling tweets and checking in just long enough to reply to mentions and RTs, it's more than manageable. 

Ava Jae said...

Answer: Yes, I did. Ha ha, just kidding, but I think it's something we all need to remind ourselves of every once in a while, particularly when we're procrastinating a certain something and checking Twitter as an excuse (which--psh--never happens or anything...) 

Melissa Maygrove said...

I just joined Twitter and -OH MAN- is this me. No more cyber bunny trails!!! Word Count...Word Count... Great post. ; )

Victoria Heckstall said...

I need your time management skills. I try to attend at least one Twitter Party a day - so that is at least an hour. I am also known to check Twitter just because - which leads to me staying up all night getting my work and chores done lol.

Ava Jae said...

Thank you, Melissa! :)

Ava Jae said...

I won't pretend that I don't still fall into the trap of checking Twitter just to check Twitter, however when I have other more pressing things I need to get done and I catch myself checking Twitter, I know it's time to get back to work. 

Andi-Roo said...

haha... I'm supposed to be working on a post RIGHT NOW. So thank you for the gentle reminder to get my ass in gear & to quit knocking off on them interwebz...


Andi-Roo
/// @theworld4realz

http://www.theworld4realz.com/



theworldforrealz@gmail.com

Dave Kean said...

Great post, this really is me. 

Twitter can be a time suck, but I've also got so much out of it. Support, advise and so on, but it's been tough to strike the right balance. Great blog. 

Julia Tomiak said...

You are so right!  To avoid the time suck, I schedule time to write when I know I won't have internet access, or I'm just good about telling myself "This hour is for writing only.  You can tweet later when Bill (husband) has the TV on."  You should probably repost this once a month!  Thanks for the reminder!

Ava Jae said...

You're very welcome, Andi. We all need a gentle reminder every once in a while. :)

Ava Jae said...

Thank you, Dave! I absolutely love the benefits social media offers us--from support groups to inspiration or much-needed relaxation (or on the other hand, motivation)--but it's definitely important to keep a good balance between social media use and things of more important writerly nature.

Ava Jae said...

Of course, Julia! I know I often have to sit down and tell myself that the next half hour or however long I intend to write (sometimes until I hit a certain amount of words) is precisely for writing only. I've found that certain programs like Write or Die can really help me strap down and write without getting distracted, even by Twitter. :D

Ursula Maxwell-Lewis said...

Absolutely true. I'm 'attempting' reassess my new era Time Management.  But... I found this when you 'followed' me on Twitter ( while working on an assignment!). Obvious, I enjoy your posts - and will 'follow' back. 

Ava Jae said...

Thank you, Ursula! 

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