Ever since I was half-way through writing Gray Justice I
have been getting up at dark o’clock to get a few hundred words in before
heading off to the day job. When I get in from work I am immediately
pounced upon by my beautiful twin girls as they demand some Daddy time, and
once they’re in bed I get a little time to myself.
Sadly, my recent participation on Twitter has seen me
spending my mornings thanking people for their tweets the previous evening, and
when I get in from work I am back on the laptop to thank them for the tweets
while I was at the office. This is time I should be spending with my
family, and I realise now that I have been neglecting them. It’s also time I
had put aside to do my writing, and I just cannot continue to maintain all three.
That is why I will be cutting down my Twitter time to the
bone.
I have auto-tweets scheduled in for the next 100 or so days, both
for me and some of my friends, and they will continue to go out. I also have
the Twitter app on my mobile and will retweet when I’m out and about, but with
such a small screen and my clumsy, chipolata fingers, that’s all I can
manage. Replies to tweets and DMs are out of the question.
I’m going to miss my Twitter evenings a hell of a lot, but I
hope you realise the need to spend more time with my family, and I’m sure those
of you waiting for Gray Redemption will be glad that I’ll be devoting more time
to it.
I’m going to allow myself a couple of hours one evening a
week to catch up with my Twitter friends, and I will get emails when a DM is
sent, so if you need anything that can’t wait, let me know with a private
message.
Alan
You're not alone...I was loving Twitter but had to stop for the month of August while I did Camp NaNoWriMo. I was getting deluged in notifications so I turned them all off except DMs. Now it's September and I'm trying to keep writing most days. I miss a few of my best Twitter friends but most of them are on Facebook. I'll keep up there. I will continue to use Triberr and will approve posts/tweets from there, keeps my blog posts out there in Twitterland. PLUS my Facebook Writing page auto tweets anything I post there.
ReplyDeleteI think it's great that you're dropping twitter. FB & twitter have taken over the lives of way too many people and all too often productivity, social lives and most important families are the ones who suffer.
ReplyDeleteThere's an xA for so many other harmful habits (AA, OA, NA, SAA, etc.,) soon enough society will realize the need for something similar for social networks.
I look forward to your new book, whenever you complete it and hope you can remain social network free. Slips and relapses are all a normal part of recovery. Recognize them and limiting them are the hallmarks of recovery.
Hello my friend...
ReplyDeleteI am in a similar position right now as you know. I too cannot maintain the amount of time I am spending on twitter. My 3 year old daughter and my writing has to come first. So I am having to cut down my time on social networking dramatically. I fully understand and totally respect your decision to do this. As parents it's so hard sometimes to find the right balance. I too have scheduled tons of tweets for my good friends and will pop on from time to time. I am re-writing one book and also preparing a book of poetry to be published next spring! Catch up with you very soon Alan and I so look forward to GJ3. Hugs to you and your family :)
No problem. Finish your book. It's a good example for all of us.
ReplyDeleteMaybe you could blog about the steps you take to publish it.
I'll certainly do more blogging once the book is finished, and that sounds like a good topic :-)
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