The Best Internet Time Wasters.....

Those of us who write full time (no, I don't make a living doing it, yet. I'm a stay at home mom, so I write a majority of the day) always have ways to waste time instead of writing. Following is a list of some of my favorite sites where I waste time. Having said that, I should also mention I have found some of the best writing information and advice at some of these site, so I guess they weren't a complete waste of time.

1. facebook - Of course, I linked you to my fan page, but obviously that's not where I spend the most time. However, I'm an opportunist...head over, like my page, then hang out for a while. This site is where I connect with friends, family, fans, and of course, fellow writers.

2. Twitter - Here's another place where I get some info from fellow writers, editors, agents, publishers, and of course, celebrities. I don't find this site as engrossing as others, but I can see how people can become hooked on it.

3. Absolute Write Water Cooler - This site is nothing but a HUGE source of info! Any question you can imagine writing related can be answered by people in this forum. There's categories for everything. I tend to spend a lot of time in these threads!

4. Writers Digest - If you pay for a subscription you'll get lists constantly of pubs, agents, etc who are currently accepting submissions. I subscribed once, but now I just traipse through the forum. Another place with gobs of info.

5. The Writers Cave - Who doesn't like looking into other people's windows? Okay, that sounded creepy. What I mean is, who wouldn't want to see the work space of their favorite author. Paige Cuccaro has compiled dozens of authors' caves; I can spend a lot of time, and have in the past, just flipping through the pics, comparing work spaces of successfully published authors.

6. Nathan Bransford's blog - This former agent turned writer has a great blog. Everything from How to Write A Query, to his take on books. Mr. Bransford's blog is another site I find myself spending hours reading.

7. Query Shark - This site is just all around fun. Sure, it's informative, but I get a kick out of reading some of the really bad queries. Oh come on...you know we've all written a query to make you cringe! But don't worry; this site isn't just the bad American Idol auditions. She has very helpful info, as well as great critiques. She'll show you what works, what doesn't work, and why for both on all things query.

 

Well, that'll do for now. Don't want y'all to spend all day playing instead of working. You gotta keep your AIS, but that's not just to play on the Internet. Have a great day, and make it productive. The end of the month isn't that far away for you participating in NaNoWriMo!

Networking, Internet, and Relationships....

As an author I'm a member of several networking groups. I'm on Facebook, MySpace (apparently the last person), Twitter, LinkdIn, etc. On these sites I've met hundreds of fellow writers, some in my genre, others not. Networking is extremely important, but how do you keep everything in balance?

I'm a married mother of three, and slave to several pets including reptiles (those of you who own them know how much time it takes to care for them daily). I'm responsible for keeping up the house, laundry, dinners, grocery shopping, running errands, and a slew of everyday oddities. On top of these regular daily chores, I also have children who require medication, constant visits to mental health providers, as well as the usual pediatrician visits. I haven't even started the orthodontist visits, yet.

Now, with all those things going on I still have to find time to write, research, market, format, etc. Then I'm supposed to spend hours a day on these networking sites? How in the world does one do that? I get on Facebook and Twitter two to three times a day, check the first page, like and comment, then head back to whatever it was I was doing before opening Facebook.com. I try to read blogs, and have found some which are extremely entertaining or informative, but either don't leave a comment because I have nothing constructive to add, or someone else beat me to the punch.

Am I setting myself up for failure by not trolling every networking site and blog and leaving comments, "likes", or the good ole "lol" on every single post? Am I setting myself up to be seen as self-centered or a recluse? I definitely don't want the people I've built relationships with thinking I'm ignoring them, but my time is stretched so thin it's damn near transparent.

So, please, dear wise ones...how do you balance life, writing, and networking? Those of you who seem to be active on fifteen boards...are you retired with grown children, or did you find the secret for an extra hour in the day?