A funny Thing Happened to Me on the Way to the Forums
As a writer it's good to join some of the better writing forums. You learn a lot, you ask questions, and you give answers when you know the answers. (Some folks give answers, however, when they don't have answers.)
On the other hand, as a writer it's also bad to join writing forums when it cuts into your writing time. The rationalization is persuasive: "Hey, I may not be writing, writing, but I'm still writing," and, "I'm among writers--so what that I'm drawn to a thread like 'What's Love got to Do with It?' and 'Do You Really Like Wicker?' I'm still among writers; therefore, something good will come of it--who knows? Maybe someday I'll write a romantic novel...or if I get a wicker chair my muse might sit with me more often."
The real problem is that I play too much at the forums. While i'm in MSWord I'd be writing something for submittal and get stuck on something. My mind suddenly loses the "flow," and in its place is the fact that I'm only two clicks away from finding out the best places to buy good quality wicker.
It's worse when you're a humorist. On the boards the bon mots tend to flow like bats out of caves at dusk, puns burst out of double entendres, jokes have half the posters splashing their screens with nostril-spewn diet coke...well sometimes; we writers also have vivid imaginations. The two clicks away also gives near-instant gratification. If I continue writing my short story, or an essay, the finished product takes too long. And then it needs to be mailed, and two or three months down the road I'll get a response. And there's a chance that the response will be a rejection.
So, just two clicks and I won't have to endure all that waiting. Writers are mostly a reclusive lot. Once the internet arrived writers became too cyber-social. They no longer needed to worry about dressing, showering, brushing their teeth. Not that we practiced such ablutions before the Internet, but now we can be as social as normal folks without the normal folks refusing to inhale in our presence. So, now that we found that odors are somehow filtered out once they hit our modums, we're as confident as the non-writer.
Click...click.
On the other hand, as a writer it's also bad to join writing forums when it cuts into your writing time. The rationalization is persuasive: "Hey, I may not be writing, writing, but I'm still writing," and, "I'm among writers--so what that I'm drawn to a thread like 'What's Love got to Do with It?' and 'Do You Really Like Wicker?' I'm still among writers; therefore, something good will come of it--who knows? Maybe someday I'll write a romantic novel...or if I get a wicker chair my muse might sit with me more often."
The real problem is that I play too much at the forums. While i'm in MSWord I'd be writing something for submittal and get stuck on something. My mind suddenly loses the "flow," and in its place is the fact that I'm only two clicks away from finding out the best places to buy good quality wicker.
It's worse when you're a humorist. On the boards the bon mots tend to flow like bats out of caves at dusk, puns burst out of double entendres, jokes have half the posters splashing their screens with nostril-spewn diet coke...well sometimes; we writers also have vivid imaginations. The two clicks away also gives near-instant gratification. If I continue writing my short story, or an essay, the finished product takes too long. And then it needs to be mailed, and two or three months down the road I'll get a response. And there's a chance that the response will be a rejection.
So, just two clicks and I won't have to endure all that waiting. Writers are mostly a reclusive lot. Once the internet arrived writers became too cyber-social. They no longer needed to worry about dressing, showering, brushing their teeth. Not that we practiced such ablutions before the Internet, but now we can be as social as normal folks without the normal folks refusing to inhale in our presence. So, now that we found that odors are somehow filtered out once they hit our modums, we're as confident as the non-writer.
Click...click.
posted by rich at 7:20 AM
5 Comments:
I so know what you mean, I tend to get sucked into forums too...and more lately, blogs! I find myself floating around cyberspace when I *should* be working. ;-)
Yeah, there's a dire need for budgeting time.
I'm glad you spend time at a certain forum, rich. You probably wish *I* didn't :-)
If you ever need someone to impose a temporary "time out" on you to keep you off the boards, let me know, I have that ability. And, yes, I'd let you back. Honest. For free, too.
Ah, Dawno. I was able to do that on my own. Tell Haskins I still like him. The Hero guy, no.
This is very interesting site... » »
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