Internet Time Thief Often Requires Drastic Measures (and a Simple Solution)

Ok, I admit, sometimes when writing I lack self discipline.  It’s been an ongoing problem lately.  And the culprit (other than me) is the Internet Time Thief!  The Internet is so readily available, a mere click away, and it’s so darn tempting, but it's stealing my time!  But today, following a suggestion that I learned from a staff at MPH following my booktalk on Saturday,I decided enough is enough!  

The problem is, in the middle of writing, I keep finding myself thinking, let me just check to see if I have any emails, or any blog comments?  Or check on my blog stats to see what posts are doing well today?  I’ve been doing this about a dozen times a day (maybe more, especially when bored, restless).  Do I have too much time on my hands?  I’m thinking this will only take a minute, which it does, until I respond to an email that could easily have waitedfor a more opportune time, or get snared by one of those yahoo news stories that suddenly grabs my attention, especially those cute baby or animal YouTube postings. 

Not only does this kill my writing momentum, it gobbles up a lot of time.  Then I got to figure out, now where did I leave off and re-motivate me to get back into the story.  Then half an hour later, I do it again!  What is my problem?  The Internet!   Temptation!  The problem is my own lack of self-discipline!

Lately, I’ve been grumbling about this, even wishing for the old pre-Internet days when I could just work on the computer free of all those temptations trying their hardest to seduce me from my writing!

Then the lady from MPH said, “Sometimes, I switch the Internet off while I'm writing.”

“You can do that?” I heard myself thinking.  Of course, such a simple in-your-face solution!  I felt embarrassed not thinking of that myself.  I keep the Internet on in case I need to research something or verify some fact.  Which, of course, I really don’t need to.  I could do it the old-fashioned way, grab a nearby dictionary or a mini-encyclopedia, get what I want and get back to work.  When I do research on the Internet, true it’s so much faster to find something, but I find myself getting so absorbed in all that information it often becomes yet another distraction from writing!  In other words, counterproductive.  For in-dept research I could save it for non-peak writing time, like in the evening.

So this morning, after catching myself interrupting my work for the umpteenth time, I thought, disconnect it!  Just take away the temptation.  So I did.  I unplugged my Internet connection, and moved it out of reach, so the only way I could reach it is by getting out of my chair.  I didn’t want to make it too easy on myself.

So far it’s working beautifully.  Of course I had to hook it back up in order to post this blog, but then right afterwards, I unplugged it again and got back to revising my novel.  That’s important, since I’m on a deadline and I do need to get it out by the 15^th! 

Sometimes, when you lack discipline (it’s always best to admit these things so you know where the blame truly lies), you just have to take some drastic matters into your own hands.  Wow, such a simple solution to what has become an on-going headache, not to mention a massive waste of time!

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Six Impossible Things Before Breakfast—Or Six Important Things Before Lunch!

The Queen said to Alice in Lewis Carroll’s Through the Looking Glass, “Why, sometimes I've believed as many as six impossible things before breakfast.”  What if the impossible things, weren’t all that impossible, but rather doable, and they were the six most important things to do to on your list, and what if you could accomplish them all, maybe not before breakfast, but before lunch.  Now wouldn’t that be a great way to start your day! You will have crossed off six important things (not minor tasks, but the stuff you’ve been procrastinating on for days, weeks, months), and now your afternoon is free of guilt.  In fact, you’re so excited by the possibilities you’re really on a roll and you’re anxious to see what else can accomplish today. 

Imagine if you did this every day, just think how productive your life could be, how good you can really feel about yourself, and what if some (if not all six) of these important things are actually taking you a step closer to your goals?  Even if you only managed to accomplish one of those important things that moves you toward your life goals (like drafting out an outline or a chapter of a book you've always wanted to write), that's still pretty darn good.  You worked it into a busy day. 

Most people start the day with good intentions.  You know what you need to do.  You may have even written it down, and you're all fired up, but then something comes up, an email that requires your immediate attention, some late breaking story on yahoo that has you concerned, some funny or fascinating YouTube posting that you can’t resist watching.  Then you get a phone call, and when you check your email, there are a few more items than need to be replied, and, oh, a long lost friend just sent you a message on Facebook!  An office colleague drops by to tell you about an exciting person they just met or relate their latest drama.  And someone really needs your advice or help with their deadline project.

Next thing you know its lunch, and although you accomplished a few things, they were not the top six on your list, they were a few at the bottom that only took a few minutes to clear, neither important nor urgent, just stuff on that list.  So you sort of feel good because you at least accomplished something before lunch.

   

Oh what a difference your day and your life could be if you just ignored everything that was not urgent, and you rolled up your sleeves and ploughed through, one after the other, those six important things that lately have been impossible to get around to.  But not today!  Today you’re focused, you’re disciplined, and you are absolutely determined not to let anyone else (not even yourself) sidetrack you from the tasks at hand.

When you accomplish what you set out to do, even those mundane tasks—like doing your taxes—that you wished would just disappear from your desk, your self-esteem rises and you feel good about yourself.  You even feel that just maybe you really can take on the world! 

Now isn’t that a whole lot better than feeling guilty because you, once again, by the end of the day, did not do what you know you need to do.  It’s right there on your list, with stars by them!  So now those same incomplete tasks will be waiting for you first thing tomorrow, along with everything else that you need to do, and the thought of that really makes you angry.

Don’t get angry and beat yourself up, just make a fresh commitment to yourself, that, by golly, every day from now on, you’re going to see if you can accomplish six important things before lunch, and just do them (no email, no Facebook, no phone calls, no personal dramas (yours or anyone else).  And maybe, while you’re at it, a few impossible things before breakfast!  Like waking up before the alarm goes off, humming instead of groaning, stretching and exercising, being grateful that you not only have a home to sleep in but also clothes to wear and food to eat. 

Also be glad that you’re alive and healthy and that you have someone to love (parents and children count), and maybe even someone who loves you (yes, pets count).  Instead of wishing you had someone else’s face or body or talent or all of their money; appreciate all that you do have in life.  See life from a whole new perspective, as a joy, not as a hassle.  If you think you have problems, and I’m sure you have your share, turn on the news to the latest disaster!  They got real problems!  Count your blessings!  Put it all into perspective.  

By now you’re starting to feel better about yourself, and once you have breakfast, you’ll feel energized to start tackling those six important things on your list.  Today is the day you’re taking charge of your own life!  About time, too, and it’s not even lunch!  Let’s really work up an appetite!
      -Borneo Expat Writer

*Update, the 20th anniversary of Lovers and Strangers Revisited

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Are You Writing or Are You Creating Assets?

Are you merely writing, or are you creating assets? To be honest, I never really thought about it, which may explain why financially it has been a struggle writing full time these past five months. I did what I’ve always done, I wrote, and rewrote, and occasionally I blogged. I also sent out my work to various editors, publishers and agents. The usual stuff.

Then while trying to turn myself into a savvy investor—it all starts with self-education—I picked up Robert Kyosaki’s Guide to Investing and while discussing assets, he said, “…there are many ways you can create assets inside an asset column without buying them. Inventors do it by inventing something of great value. Artists paint paintings that are priceless. Authors write books that pay them royalties for years…”

Assets. Never looked at it this way. I'm not just writing, I'm creating assets that I can sell! Creating something from nothing, just like the ancient alchemists were trying to do by searching for that magic formula of turning lead into gold. Today writers have the power to turn nothing but their ideas into not only assets, but a living, a fortune, or even a commercial empire. Just ask J.K. Rowling. It all began with an idea, about boy named Harry, and then following through with that idea, that creative vision, book after book, movie after movie, merchandizing deal after merchandizing deal. Amazing!

As a writer, you can turn your ideas into blogs, into articles, into short stories, into books (hard cover and ebooks), into plays and screenplays. These are all assets. Blogs can be turned into a series of articles or compiled into a book – it’s been done by plenty of other people. Articles and short stories can be sold and published; their rights can be sold again and again to non-competing markets, or they can be adapted or expanded into other articles or longer pieces, even books. Books can sell for years, and they, like plays and screenplays, can also be turned into movies, TV series, and musicals. It all begins with an idea.

As a writer, it’s nice to know that you don’t need money to create assets. You do need money to live on, to support yourself, but what you truly need is the time to write. Talent helps, too. But time, as I’ve discovered in the past five months, is not enough. You need the discipline to get to your computer and stay there (and not let yourself become sidetracked by everything that the Internet represents—the world at your disposal with a click of your mouse and your time taken away from you forever).

You also need the wisdom to write effectively, the focus to stay with a project to see it through to completion, and the perseverance (and the self-confidence) to sell what you write, and not be discouraged by the inevitable rejections. Play the salesman, and keep knocking on those doors!

Of course, not all assets created by you are equal, and time is mutually exclusive -- you can't do everything at the same time! So don’t spend all of your writing time on blogs if what you really want to write are novels and screenplays. Find the balance in your writing life, and choose the assets that you wish to create carefully, so at the end of the day, end of the week, end of the month, end of the year, end of your writing days, you can look back on all the assets that you created and feel a sense of accomplishment. Hopefully you’ll have plenty of money to invest for your family, too.

So what new assets, other than a few blogs, have you created lately? I’m asking myself that very question as I post this blog. What have I gained, what have I lost? More importantly, how can I turn this and other blogs into a bigger, better asset? Last night I overhauled my previous blog "Validation from Readers", reslanted it, and submitted it as an article to a paying market. If you ask yourself the right questions, answers will start to follow. Then all you need is the discipline to follow through...Good luck!

As an update, the short stories that I wrote over twenty years ago and published as Lovers and Strangers (Heinemann Asia 1993) and Lovers and Strangers Revisited (MPH 2005) have been published 80 times in 12 countries, and now the collection is being translated into French.
                            -Robert Raymer, Borneo Expat Writer

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Small Increments, Big Results, Quill July-September 2009

Click on page to read

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I 

Don't Moan, Improvise!

“No wind, row!” barked Winston Churchill, no doubt to a group of hapless sailors bemoaning the lack of wind to fill their sails. Although I’m no sailor, I often apply this nautical advice to other facets of my life. When things don’t go according to plan, instead of moaning, I force myself to make a new plan by improvising. In other words, I do whatever I have to do to get what needs done and completed on time.

For instance, in Malaysia where I live as an expat, we occasionally have power shortages, so if I’m in the middle of writing, I’ll permit myself to groan a little, then I’ll say, “No computer, type!”

I’ll dust off my ever dependable manual typewriter and get the job done. If the typing isn’t urgent, I’ll take advantage of the down time by completing other
non-typing tasks, like editing or brain storming new ideas for articles, short stories,
screenplays or novels.

This is also the time to reorganize my writing notes, straighten out my files, update my non-computer records, and clear away everything that has been accumulating on my desk, so when the power – and especially my computer – is back on, I’m raring to go with a clear mind and an uncluttered office.

Then on those days when I have errands to run and my car refuses to cooperate, which happens a lot with my less-than-trusty old car, I’ll boldly announce, “No car, walk!”

By walking, I still get to my destination and pick up some much needed exercise in the process. If the distance is too far, as is often the case, I’ll take a bus or a taxi, or – if I feel truly inspired – I’ll ride my bicycle. I just do what I have to do to get wherever I have to go. Instead of complaining that I have no car and use that as an excuse, I get on with my life.

To make sure that I get to my destination or to my appointment on time, I’ll leave early to allow for delays, and will often bring along an umbrella in case of rain as well as a book or a magazine to read while waiting for the bus or taxi.

Every now and then when I go to Kuala Lumpur or Singapore, I’ll make my rounds visiting magazine editors and publishers, and if I can’t make an appoint­ment ahead of time because the editor is out or if I just happened to be in the area, I’ll stop in and present myself and my work. If the person I want to see is busy, which is usually the case, and if coming back later or the next day is inconvenient or impossible, I’ll tell myself, “No appointment, wait!”

While waiting, I’ll browse through the publishers’ latest publications, go over my manuscripts, and rehearse my selling pitch – for articles, short stories, or a book proposal.

Invariably I get to meet the person whom I came to see, even if it’s only for a few minutes while they are rushing out of the building to make their own appoint­ments. More importantly I’ve put a face behind my words and have established contact, which later will lead to sales.

Now that I’m teaching writing full time and freelancing part time, I have these days, weeks, months, when there’s just not enough time to complete all of my tasks, so I think back to a time management seminar I once attended and say to myself, “No time, make time!”

So I’ll get up an hour earlier, shorten my lunch hour, cut out unnecessary breaks, limit phone calls, cut short e-mails, avoid idle chatter with colleagues, leave the TV off, and just try to work more efficiently both at work and at home.

Then during those intense periods of my life when I feel that all I ever do is work, I’ll use my final battle cry, “No life, get one!”

So I’ll go to a movie, play tennis, visit a beach, read a novel or just play with my son who’s always so full of life.

Now whenever I find myself in the middle of the sea of life and there’s no wind, I rarely moan or shrug my shoulders in defeat and say, “What to do?” I just do my best Winston Churchill imitation and get on with my life and gain a little life in the process.

                        --Borneo Expat Writer

*Update, the 20^th anniversary of Lovers and Strangers Revisited

Here are links to some of my author-to-author interviews of first novelists:

Ivy Ngeow author of Cry of the Flying Rhino, winner of the 2016 Proverse Prize.

Golda Mowe author of Iban Dream and Iban Journey.

Preeta Samarasan author of Evening is the Whole Day. 

Chuah Guat Eng,  author of Echoes of Silence and Days of Change. 

Plus:

Five part Maugham and Me series

Beheaded on Road to Nationhood: Sarawak Reclaimed—Part I