No neenin

Allie and I call the Internet the neenernet and we call surfing neening.

I've just imposed a rule of not neenin' before noon each day. Not even checking email is allowed.

I just decided enough is enough. Every freaking day I get on just to check for messages and I wind up getting sucked in, looking around for something interesting, not finding anything, and, worst of all, not writing. So no more.

Now when I wake up the first thing I do is turn on Freedom and set it so I can't get online until lunch time.

It's amazing how much it clears my mind and allows me to focus on what's really important.

affs

I've recently started doing daily affirmations. Yes, those kinds of affirmations. Except I don't do them in front of a mirror.

No, I'm not ashamed to admit it. Not really.

Here's the thing: They work!

Seriously, I've noticed a marked improvement in the areas of my life that I've targeted with affirmations. One of those areas is writing. I've been doing an affirmation everyday about my novel. And I think I'm going to add another one about essays.

For what it's worth...

Begin again

Time to dust off this blog again. It's probably the best way to keep my relatives apprised of what's going on with me. So here goes...

I had an essay accepted by Pleiades today.  That's a big goal -- published by a lit journal -- accomplished a little more quickly than I thought it would be.

The weird thing is I re-read the essay and I thought it was awful. I got all down on myself for being a bad writer.

Writing is really ridiculous, isn't it?

Things are going great for me. In addition to this lit journal milestone, I got hired to to teach at the New Letter's writing conference. I'm making progress on my novel.

But still, I flog myself.

I'd be concerned if I didn't know this is all too common.