The blog of photographer Kim Ayres

I will not blog in the morning

Pop…





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...time for a new post (see comments from the last post if you don’t get the reference).

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I will not blog in the morning.

This is my new mantra.

What it has taken me far too long to discover is that when I check my e-mails and do a minor round of blog surfing before I settle down to get some work done, I don’t get round to settling down to get some work done.

By the time I’ve replied to comments on my blog, looked at the latest Blunt Cogs entry and maybe left a comment or two, done a quick round of the blogs I can remember leaving comments on the previous evening to see if anyone’s posted a follow up reply, then about an hour to an hour and a half seems to have passed and my head is completely in blog mode, which is incompatible with any other creative endeavour.

Close to 20 years ago, my Dad got Satellite TV installed. Back in those days there were a mere 30 to 40 channels to chose from, but compared to the 4 on standard terrestrial TV it seemed infinite. What I eventually discovered, after many months of doing bugger all with my life, was that on days when I got up, had my breakfast, and decided to do a bit of channel hopping while I drank my coffee, was that 2 hours later, as I finally decided to tear myself away from the shopping channel or topless darts, I was good for nothing for the rest of the day. I wasn’t creative, I had no energy and I really couldn’t face doing anything more challenging than, well, sitting in front of the TV all day, channel hopping.

Now although in our house we don’t have Satellite nor digital TV, my wife reported something similar with daytime television when I used to go to work and she was in charge of the house and kids. She said she’d plan on just watching 20 minutes of “Trisha” or “Richard & Judy” while she had a cup of coffee, before getting up to sort out the day, but before she new it, it was lunchtime and she couldn’t face the idea of doing anything else.

Now ok, blogging is a more active thing than watching TV, but the main thing is that it occupies the mind; it fills it up until you can’t really think of anything else. So the chances of getting anything else done, like write this bloody book for example, disappears completely.

So now I’m putting a self-imposed restriction on myself that I must not look at blogs or e-mails before lunch. If I get a good morning’s work done, then I can allow myself a peek at my e-mails afterwards. I’m going to see if this new regime works for a few weeks, or whether I have to tweak it some more, perhaps not letting myself near the thing before evening.

And in the meantime I will try not to feel the pressure to try and keep up with the fact that I’ve now had 2 successive posts that have had over 30 comments (and there’s a subject for another post – blogging pressure…)

18 comments

Cherrypie said...

Woo Hoo! I'm first of many.

You're lucky to have had Satellite TV 20 years ago, we've only recently had electrisity in these parts. My PC is powered by the young offspring of local serfs pedalling on exercise bikes out in the yard x

Andraste said...

Say NO to blogging pressure!

I used to do the same thing. Get to work, open my THREE e-mail accounts, check 4 or 5 blogs, check obits in my hometown newspaper (don't ask), checked for follow up comments on blogs I remembered peppering the day before, try to come up with something to say on my blog, and like you, by lunch time, I STILL hadn't done any work.

...what was my point...?

By commenting here, I'm avoiding work right now! But at least I don't feel pressure to WRITE something every day.

oh, right, my point. You're a disciplined guy, I bet this new 'no blogging in the morning' rule works well for you.

Until....

Dr Joseph McCrumble said...

I blog in the morning, occasionally during the day, but mostly in the evening when Mrs Dr McC is crocheting or watching her videos of tv quiz programmes (for some reason she has become addicted to that awful 'Deal or no Deal' with Mr Blobby or whatever his name is).

But I digress. Blogging has become a hobby, and I feel myself pulled ever deeper into the blogosphere. I'm going to need rehab if it continues like this.

No but seriously, just say NO and you should be OK. It works for Mrs Dr McC on a regular basis.

Cherrypie said...

Electricity - of course! Apologies to you and your fellow oxygen-excessed carnivorous cartons ( what sort of loser makes a spelling mistake on her first attempt? - picks up meat-free synthetically-enhanced bags and walks morosely towards the door)

Nikki said...

Kim, you and I are in the same boat. I have gotten to the point where I have got to restrict myself. I'm getting way to carried away and work does suffer. Have to put the brakes on.

SafeTinspector said...

I support you, bearded brother. Stay the fig away from us until later in the day. This simpering lot of blubbering, silly,franco-prussian and adjective laden dorks can do without you for a few hours.
We're like the peer-pressuring drug friends in the after-school specials.
Just one more post, Kim, it can't hurt! It's fun!

I do comments and follow-ups throughout the day, myself. I'm never away from a computer, and I use the comments as little rewards for completed tasks.

Full-blown posts usually happen late at night and early in the morning. Sortof like bowel movements. (Blame Foot for my bout of skatologia)

Anonymous said...

Ah, yes, working from home. I remember what that's like... I'll just check this... I'll just look and see if anyone's responded....

Since I have a job these days where I have to actually go somewhere else every day, I blog in the morning but I have to leave the house at some point, so it's not a problem. I don't blog from work, that's just a bad idea that I could see getting bad, particularly around the time I have to turn in my hours at the end of the month. "What did I do in week 2 this month? Well, uh, surfed the internet..."

Sometimes having to justify your time is a good substitute for self-discipline.

Kim Ayres said...

Cherry Pie - smart thinking. Are you watching "It's Not Easy Being Green?" on BBC 2 at the moment - maybe you need to fix up a water wheel.

Andraste - I knew I wouldn't be the only one to suffer from this. I'm not that disciplined and at the moment I'm finding it moredifficult that when I started my healthy eating regime

Dr J McC - just say no - considering that half the kids from Grange Hill were stoned off their heads while helping with that anti drugs campaign in the 80s, I'm not convinced it's the best approach for dealing with addiction...

Cherry Pie - don't worry about your spelling here. I'm not that pedantic. I make enough of my own to not dare to start casting stones

Nikki - well I feel honoured that in your restricted time you have still found the time to include me in your rounds :)

SafeTinspector - We're like the peer-pressuring drug friends in the after-school specials - I fear you might be right!

Miss Litzi - Or maybe it's time to rig up the computer power supply to a generator attached to an exercise bike, as mentioned by CherryPie above. That way we would be limited to our bloggin by how unfit we are. Our increased desperation to see if anyone has replied to our comments would do wonders for our health.

Rebecca - yes, it's the old problem of being self employed - I may have the best boss in the world, but I also have the worst employee.

kats said...

Good afternoon then from now on

Dr Maroon said...

Jammo. Wasn't he the one? Poor sowel. It does have a compulsive element whereby we click round even when nothing has changed. We just can't stop clicking. If there was some way to make a penny for every click, why, we could buy a fish supper come week's end.

None of my beeswax, and I'm only asking because I have done nothing AT ALL all day, but did you take a walk, a moody one, to clear your grey cells? or perhaps write some pages? I said it was none of my business.

Kim Ayres said...

Kats - evening!

Miss Litzi - according to Cherry Pie there's enough gas around here to power a small town so if we could just work out how to convert all this blogging into energy...

Dr Maroon - I did in fact go for a 2 mile walk this morning. And although I didn't get as far as writing pages (plural), Ii did manage to come up with quite a fancy mind-map of how my protagonist's world fits around him in the shape of his friends, followers, enemies, family, other religions etc.

How's yours coming along?

Charlie said...

I have no idea what you people are blathering about. I have absolutely no problems whatsoever with blogging vs. time expended. I am neither compulsive nor obsessive.

Oh wait. I just got a load of comments in and several essays to reply to, not to mention the three I am working on. I'll be back in five or six hours, depending on how things go . . .

Anonymous said...

Kim, I can only say:

I spend way too much time blogging, and recently my oldest daughter has brought to my attention that she believes that the computer and I are secretly having an affair-and that I am trying to conceal this fantasy relationship from her and the others...followed by, did you know that you are addicted to blogging mom? My almost 15 year old who is going on 30, such insight from a mere teenager.

As I type this right now, I can look down the hall and see HER plopped down in front of the kids computer singing her heart out to an online music video.

But seriously, I truly need to learn to be more organized about blogging and minimize it to just an hour or two a day. I gave up caffeine one week ago, and refrained from chocolate on Easter... so next up I am going to have to do a bit less blogging :(

My last seven day average for hits on my blog is about 248 per day. I have been so active getting my fingers, mind, and all of my time involved in sharing the T21 world with everyone that my children are feeling a bit neglected.

While it is likely that if I were sitting in the room with them now they would not be paying attention to me at ALL. But if the phone rang, well it is a safe bet I would be surrounded by children with a sudden interest in communicating. Got to love the way kids find ways to get at us.

There I go again, another long-winded comment. I can't even write in more organized manner.....

Kim Ayres said...

Admiral - well I'm glad to see you've got it all under control...

RNP - yes, my son mutters that I love my laptop more than him and even my wife is ceasing to be as understanding. I have to start cutting back a bit

SafeTinspector said...

With my four year old, there's a constant barrage. I couldn't blog with her awake and in the house if I wanted to!

Unknown said...

That was my New Year's Resolution....I am doing well, but man, like a junkie, I want to look...I want to read,,,I want to respond.......

Kim Ayres said...

SafeTinspector - it's true that little ones will make their feelings clearly known!

Tara Marie - I know exactly how you feel!

LindyK said...

Aah the commenting addiction... I, too, had to set a moratorium: no blogging until after home from work. Otherwise, it's too easy to get caught up and realize you've spent hours...

What a way to go...

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