How do I convince myself that surfing the internet is a terrible waste of time? I always seem to do most of it when I should be writing.
But then I run across posts like this and I can’t help but read them. I wasn’t so interested in the stuff about the editing process, but there was a good bit in there about word counts and being prolific that made me happy to have read the post.
I’ve watched more of Garrett Robinson’s vloganovel videos. Yes, I know, it’s weird to just watch someone typing but those are the bits I watch. I turn up the volume so I can hear the tapping of the keys and I listen to get a sense of his speed. It is weird. I know it. But it helps me write faster after the fact. Watching him write makes me hyper aware of how much deleting, editing, backspacing, and jumping around I do as I write, so that I do less of it.
I’m not sure what’s up with that, tbh, except that—and this is strange too, I know it—I’ll often type half a sentence started from somewhere in the middle and then hop to the beginning and type the beginning of the sentence. I didn’t realize how often my thoughts do that to me until I watched how linearly Garrett writes. I’m not sure if the starting of sentences in the middle is my brain outpacing my fingers (I only type about 60-65 words per minute), or if it’s a result of the way my thoughts jump around constantly—even when I’m trying to focus and concentrate. As a general rule, I’ve always thought I wrote linearly, and I do when it comes to scenes and chapters, but when it comes to paragraphs and sentences, I’m all over the place. :)
Also, I was 58% done reading a book I’d checked out from the library when it expired yesterday. I’m 42% through another that’s also about to expire. Don’t think I’ll finish it because I just don’t see myself having the time. I’m 12% into another, and 10% into another. These are all fiction, and this is why I’m probably not going to make my 60 book goal before year end. I start reading too many books that I don’t finish. :P These aren’t even the books I was supposed to be reading (my backlog of books)!