Sunday, April 5, 2009

Of clutter and escapes...

With a new release coming next week (STRESS RELIEF on April 17th; no cover yet or you know I'd post it), I should be going full-tilt into promo-mode – getting my name out there and letting readers know there soon will be another Diana Hunter novel for their enjoyment. And I will – just as I’ll let know people know I’m a finalist in the Best Writer category at the Bondage Awards (if you want to vote, you can, by the way. Just go here and scroll to ‘Best Writer’ and choose me from the drop-down menu. You can vote once a day).

But recently I’ve been feeling overwhelmed by the crush of online information. For example, I like my Twitter account, but decided I really didn’t care what some people had for breakfast and so stopped following about a dozen people. I belonged to a list-serve for my day job that only seemed to clutter the email address I got just for them. The flaming and sometimes unprofessional attitudes only served to tick me off –and for what reason or to what avail? None. Bye-bye list serve!

The level of stress in my life has dropped dramatically this past week because, besides these actions, I’ve also unsubscribed from several lists I wasn’t really following anyway. I went no-mail on a bunch of others and added others to my RSS reader instead of getting the emails to further streamline my time. I truly feel so much less burdened. It isn’t that I don’t care about any of these topics, rather that I just am spread too thin and as a result, am not able to go deeply into any of them. My interest can only be superficial and time-consuming and that only leads to frustration. If it is true that, “where ignorance is bliss, ‘tis folly to be wise,” then I’m choosing to be blissfully ignorant of some issues regarding the state of publishing today, the machinations of educators who can’t be professional, and what people ate for which meal.

So what have I done with all this time? Believe it or not, I gave myself back nearly an hour a day. I’d like to say I’ve spent it writing a new book and next week, I promise, I will. But this week I went for a walk in one of my favorite worlds: Uru. Telling a story in a non-linear fashion has always fascinated me and the Myst series remains one of the most well-done examples of this budding genre. It was a wonderful escape and makes me long to write the fantasy I started a while back.

Which brought me to a decision: after I finish my current work-in-progress (which should be by the end of the month), I’m going into a world of my own creation for the summer. I’m immersing myself in a story that has been niggling at my brain for too long and is now insistent. At this point it’s a fantasy with erotic elements rather than a straight erotic romance, so who knows where it’ll end up once it’s done. But I’ll worry about that later. For right now, I’m planning to leave the real world behind and live in my imagination for a while.

And to think – authors are not only allowed to do this, but we’re encouraged to! I love being a writer!

So what about it? What are your favorite de-cluttering activities – and your favorite escapes?

Play safe,
Diana

5 comments:

Lynn LaFleur said...

My favorite escape is scrapbooking. I discovered scrapbooking four years ago and jumped in with my whole body, not just my feet. I enjoy using my creativity in a different area than writing. I've made several small gifts for the special people in my life, and they all seemed to really love them.

Of course, I've always loved reading and will sneak in a chapter or two whenever I can.

Good for you, Diana, to try something different! I'm sure your fantasy will be as wonderful as all your other books.

Lynn

Diana Hunter said...

I scrapbook too, Lynn. My daughter got me into it years ago. I'm not really very creative (words are my weapons of choice when it comes to creating anything), but I like to play around with it. The journaling is the fun part :)

Bridget said...

Hi! EVERYONE......'How are all of you doing this evening???' Ummmmm...my favorite escape besides FANTASIZING, is MUSIC, going to my YOUTUBE CHANNEL and looking and listening to my favorite videos that i have saved on that account. But i also like to log on the computer as well, but definite fav escape is 'fantasizing'. "THANKS!!!.................................." B.

Cait Miller said...

My favorite escape is driving in my car to anywhere and listening to music loud so I can sing along :)I'm also partial to the movies and go fairly regularly. There's nothing that says escape quite like a good movie on the big screen.

Cait Miller said...

Forgot to mention de-cluttering :) Every 6 months or so I go through my TBR shelf and box up the books that I haven't even looked at since I last de-cluttered :) I'm an impulse buyer with books so I will buy something on Amazon and be dying to read it but by the time it gets here I've lost the notion. Every now and again I will go back to them but I don't have enough room on the shelf in the meantime. This is why e-books are perfect for me... but very expensive LOL!