Overheard at our house last week, just before my new release of ATLANTIS UNLEASHED:
Navy Guy: Whatcha doing?
Me: I’m Googling myself.
NG: You’ll go blind.
Me:
NG: Can I watch?
I have to admit I used to be on the slow end of the curve on the information superhighway. I was the person in the far right lane, clinging white-knuckled to her steering wheel, while all the speedy showoffs race by me churning exhaust fumes of syndicated blogsite feeds, uploading, downloading, sideloading, and anthropomorphic narfawonkers.
Or, you know, actual computer terms.
But these days, I blog, I guest blog, I MySpace, I FaceBook, and I Twitter. Love Twitter madly – for an insomniac like me, it’s heaven!! Always somebody awake at 3 a.m.
There’s a downside, though.
The dark side of the internet is that this fun “play on the internet because it’s promotion and kind of like work” time is that it can suck you in and eat up hours in your day. For most of us, these are hours we can’t afford. So other than release week when I love to pop around and talk to the folks, I try to maintain a fairly low profile. I love, love, love talking to readers and other writers—but somebody has to do the dishes here at the Day house, too.
Somebody usually meaning me. (glam life of an author, right?)
So my burning question of the day is this: how many hours a day do you spend online? What do you do when you’re there (besides visit the fabulous Romance Novel TV)? What could you accomplish if you cut out just one hour a day? (I’m thinking of learning to play the flute, but shh! Don’t tell my family. Their poor ears!!) Inquiring minds want to know!
Hugs, and thanks for coming out to play with me today!
Alyssa
Alyssa Day is the RITA-award winning and USA Today bestselling author of the Warriors of Poseidon series. Her newest release, ATLANTIS UNLEASHED, is in a store near you TODAY!! Please visit Alyssa or watch her TV interview about being a Mom and Navy wife and writer.
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Eden
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 11:50 am:
This thread started me thinking. I have the internet up all the time. It has taken the place of T.V. that I grew up with. I log on when I come into work. In between working I check things out. I accomplish an awful lot but it happens in sporatic bursts of energy. google the google brain to understand it all.
Then in the evening I long back on again. Same story working on personal things in between check here and there, email, yahoo groups.
Wow, would I actually have a night without my virtual life on the internet. My palms sweat just thinking about it. Noooo I don’t think soooooo!
One night a week without internet?
Why I could learn to play the guitar!
KatiDancy
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 12:01 pm:
how many hours a day do you spend online?
Um…why do you ask?
When I get to work in the morning, I check email and then log on to the internet. I run Firefox all day. One tab has my personal email and the other has whatever blog/newspaper/ESPN, etc that I’m reading. I pretty much ride a desk all day so I consider the time I spend on the net as my breaks during the day.
I also have a blog, so I deal with that. During football season, I obsessively read NFL news. I cruise about 15 romance related sites and about 40 romance related blogs. I also love entertainment gossip so I read People and USA Today and Go Fug Yourself. I’m also on Facebook, so I hang there some.
And believe it or not, I get a ton of work done too. At night, my laptop is usually on, but not being checked constantly. My email chimes to let me know I’ve got mail, but other than that, I try not to be on all the time. I reserve night time for reading and other stuff (ehem…TV watching).
Congrats on the new release, Alyssa! It’s lovely to have you here! And congrats on learning to play an instrument!
azteclady
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 12:50 pm:
I spend entirely too much time online (no, I’m not going to put down a number of hours, you nosy one you!
just trust me that it’s a lot of time daily, k?)
I would probably do a bunch of household chores more frequently if I limited my online time in the evenings
but… meh, we are fine!
I blog hop a lot while I’m online, and since I’m rarely short on opinions *cough* I tend to comment pretty much everywhere I stop. Not that this comes as a surprise, hmm?
Best of luck with Atlantis Unleashed, Ms Day, and I’m waiting oh-man-so-impatiently! for Atlantis Unmasked. isitjulyyet?
Marisa
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 1:32 pm:
Welcome Alyssa – so glad you could join us today and congrats on the new release Atlantis Unmasked.
Time on line? Yikes, my life seems to be on my computer – all my important information, notes, calendar etc. And I get so much of my information on line. I have access to an online library, facebook, blog, news, email as well as all the other blogs I visit. I wonder what I did before I communicated on line. Snail mail? phone calls? those have gone the way of the pay phone and 5 cent stamps.
If I spent one hour a day off line perhaps I could finally get my laundry done.
And Azteclady – just started reading Atlantis Unmased – you’re in for a treat.
Maria Lokken
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 3:28 pm:
Hi Alyssa – congrats on the new release. I love the series.
I’m constantly telling Marisa – ‘Move away from the computer.” Of course, I should talk, I never go ANYWHERE without my iPhone so I can be on line whenever.
Having said that, I absolutely insist I spend time away from the computer to be with my family and friends. And Sunday evenings are sacred… no computer time at all. (At least that’s what I’m saying right this second.)
Alyssa Day
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 3:56 pm:
I took my own advice and mostly stayed offline today to try to get other things done. It’s crazy how much is going on in my life right now and I feel like if I quit tapdancing I’ll fall over? And I’m with you, Eden, that internet has taken the place of TV; even when I watch TV I do it with my laptop so I can answer reader mail on MySpace, from my website, whatever!! I’m an addict, I think. Maria, I think I”m going to take your Sunday evening idea and turn it into the entire day. Sundays, of all days, so little is going on in publishing that my voracious need for input can get by without checking in!!
Laura
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 6:16 pm:
Alyssa,
Congrats on the book, I love the cover. I do not spend alot of time on the internet. I do try to do a little writing on my computer, about an hour a day, and then check e-mail and log onto RNTV to get the latest tid-bits. So on average, maybe twenty minutes a day, sometime a bit more if I am looking for a recipe.
Teresa
on Jun 4th, 2009
@ 6:38 pm:
Hi everyone, me I’m mostly on the internet at night. Not long just about three or four hours. I just check my email then look up my fav author’s website’s. Check out Amazon to see when my books are coming out. As you can see my life ain’t nothing but reading books and finding out new books.LOL