Writing for bloggy treats

I'm still hacking a bit, but I'm writing. I finally got my butt off the proverbial couch Friday and wrote a good, long scene, and then wrote another this afternoon.

I can tell I'm feeling better, because today (drum roll, please), I even wrote BEFORE I did my blog tour, and in fact, have not done that yet. This is a great improvement over last week. I love reading my blogs, but they can be a huge distraction, so if I can get the writing done first, I am much more productive. Then I get my blog treat. I guess you could say that makes me kind of like a little dog. Ruff. (Whatever works, right?)

Lots of discussion among writers about how they motivate themselves in the midst of our exploding electronic environment. Most say they either: a) give themselves a block of time to get email and blog reading out of the way, some with an actual timer, then write, or b) do their writing, then allow themselves their virtual networking time after they get their writing done. Some even have two computers--one with Internet access, one without. I've got two now, but that's a whole 'nuther story. (And they both connect to the Internet, sot that won't work for me!)

As much as I convince myself I can do the first and still be productive, I'm more likely to do better with the second.

After all, I'm the girl who goes into Target at 8 and comes out of her daze at 11 when they're closing, right? I like to wander around in a store, feel everything and smell it. (Unfortunately, they don't usually like me to TASTE it, durnit.) I do like to wander, and that's a fact, and blogs and email are no different. I love reading about what's going on with others, and following their links, which lead to other blogs, and, well, you get the picture. Before I know it, I can "waste" an entire afternoon--although it's not all wasted, I say. It just doesn't always help me meet my goals.

As much as many of us talk about wanting to be full-time writers, it's often still hard to sit down and actually do the writing, isn't it? Once you're started, it's sometimes a blast--things flow and before you know it, you've written pages and pages, and hardly remember the trip. Other days, it's just spewing out stuff for the sake of spewing it, and going, "YUCK!!" when you're finished, and "thank goodness for revisions."

But I'd still rather spend my time doing this, most days, than anything else in the world.