Getting rid of Distractions

  Hello there world!!

  Ok, well today I took a step that I usually take when writing some big project that I want to get done.

  Getting rid of facebook in my life.

  It had to be done. Facebook is a great way to connect with people, but it can easily become a distraction and and addiction... as it has become for me.

  When I wrote the first book in the series I'm writing right now, I deleted facebook out of my life all through winter break. I never realized how much good that did for me. I had been going at an extremely slow pace. Maybe a paragraph here and there, a few lines tossed there when I found the time. I had good intentions, setting up a time for myself to write, but I found that I never met those time limits... well... I did, but the internet was just a click away. What harm could checking up on facebook do? Very much harm indeed. It killed me. I never realized how it did though. I came to realize that while I could have been writing a whole page, I had only written a line, and in time spent on facebook I could have written a whole chapter, I had only written a page. Facebook was my biggest weakness.

  I had told my sister to reset my password and the not tell me what it was for the full winter break, no matter how much I begged her (I ended up not begging her, pretty proud of myself for that...)

  When I started this little faze I was about 150 pages in to it.

  I set up a goal for myself that winter break. I would write at least 2,000 words a day, instead of setting up a time for myself where I would just basically stare at the computer screen for an hour, and if I didn't write that amount I gave permission to either of my sisters to spank me thoroughly  (I asked them to check the word count each day so I wouldn't be tempted to lie.) 

  I finished the dern book three weeks later with 234 pages and a word count of 96,690. That's a LOT of work accomplished. No, that's like Nano writing mode, despite it not being November. I was so proud of myself.

  But alas, my sister gave me the password once winter break had passes, and I succumbed again. Writing wasn't a priority in my life anymore, the computer was, not only facebook, but other things like youtube parody surfing, and Wikipedia article skimming (highly interesting way to pass time by the way.) And so I decided something.

  I would no longer be clutched in to the deep pit of evil that is facebook (at times.) 

  And so of now, I have once again restricted myself from facebook and set up the same word limit for whatever I decide to write each day, no matter how late I stayed out because of play practice or youth, or how much homework I had. Those words would be and will be written whether I liked it or not. Well, there are the exceptions to things like midnight premieres to the Hunger Games.... but that is a special case!!! Back on topic...

  I suggest this method to anyone who is struggling to get things done. Whether it be writing, getting homework, doing chores. Trust me it'll do you a lot of good. We may think a harmless check of the facebook or click on the internet browser will be ok, but not really, a second turns in to minutes, and minutes turn in to hours, and hours turn in to days, and days turn in to weeks, and weeks turn in to months, and months turn in to years, and all of these years you could have been writing galore! But no, you waste your time on facebook!

  Trust me, getting rid of distractions will benefit you greatly. It has for me.