Increased Productivity

About a fortnight ago I had the internet connected at my house.  This is a fairly novel experience for me, as I've spent the last six years without it.  My only regular internet access has been through my job.

One of the fears I had when connecting was that it would impact my writing.  You're all on the internet, you know what it's like.  It's distracting.  If there's anything that the internet is good at, it's distracting people.  I could be watching Bert and Ernie on Youtube right now instead of typing this.  I was rightly afraid that I would spend all my time watching or reading frivolous nonsense (as opposed to writing frivolous nonsense, a much more noble pursuit).

Fortunately, my fears were unfounded.  In fact, quite the opposite has been true.  Just a few minutes before this I finished working on The Lightless Labyrinth for the night.  It's the fourteenth night in a row that I've done some writing for that novel.  This is a record for me; I have never had such a period of sustained productivity before this.  Not every day has been a winner.  There was a day where I only managed 80 words, and a few were I didn't break 200.  Nevertheless, it was progress.  Even a small step is a move forward.

Part of it is that I started tweeting my word counts every day, as well as keeping track of how many days I have written consecutively.  I don't know if anyone is paying attention, but it's enough that I believe there could be.  I don't want to disappoint my phantom audience.  The incentive to write gets larger the further I go, as well; the higher my consecutive days count goes, the more reluctant I become to break that streak.  There has been at least one night where I banged out a couple of paragraphs at 3am just to maintain my run.

It hasn't all been positive, of course.  I'm getting a lot less sleep than before.  I often procrastinate, and don't start writing until after midnight.  In general, I just waste a lot of time.  I get distracted.  Again, it's what the internet is good for.

On the other hand, I get motivated.  I get inspired to create.  The internet is good for that, too.

PROGRESS THIS WEEK:

The Lightless Labyrinth: 2,514 words
Marvel Guidebook 1961: 342 words

OTHER TIME-WASTING ACTIVITIES:

What I've Been Reading:
The CRPG Addict blog by Chester Bolingbroke
Thuvia, Maid of Mars by Edgar Rice Burroughs

What I've Been Watching:
The  Walking Dead season 4
WWE Raw and Smackdown (It is Wrestlemania season, after all!)

What I've Been Playing:
The  Dungeon (aka pedit5)
Rogue