Love in Dark Settings

"Because you were talking about being new and everything, I am sort of trying to nurture your posting process and draw you out the way people were nice enough to do to me when I was new and terrifed, so you keep posting forever and ever and ever . . .

"(only unfortunately my version of subtle nurturing and tactful drawing-out is 'OMFG C'MERE EVERYBODY COME LOOK AT THIS OMG SQUEE!!')"

--Maculategiraffe to fellow writer Mydonald.


How I reply to comments at this blog (usually).


First the dull stuff:

( What I did for my Muse recently )

( My New Year's resolutions )

And now the really good stuff:

( Links related to my writings: fanfic, fan art, reviews, and a new essay by me )

Sorry, guys, I'm still catching up on replying to your comments. I decided to post this now, rather than make you wait forever.

"Do you in general participate [in online discussions about your own stories]? . . .

"I love DVD commentaries and I love reading what authors say--but like, *way after I've processed it*. Which could be two days, or two weeks, or whatever, etc etc etc. This is because I do not like to feel idiotic when I talk about the author's symbolism in using the color red and then she says oops, I meant for that scene to be green, dammit, and you see where this is going.

"OTOH--

"Oh my God there is *such good discussion* [about my stories] and I want to *participate* and this is like the only reason I would ever even consider socking."

--Seperis.


Just so that no one who's interested will miss this: FemSlashCon 2011 - an online convention taking place this weekend. There are panels on original fiction and on publishing.

How I reply to comments at this blog.



( 4700 words today  )

( E-book publishing; George R. R. Martin )

( Wrapping up the week (despite the best efforts of a certain distracting force) )

( Book reviews and recommendations )

( Other links )

( Reply to comments )

"If I put my work out there for e-readers and only fifty people choose to download it, that's fifty more people than would have read it if I had not gone this route. No one will ever read it if it doesn't leave my desk."

--Self-publisher Gordon Bonnet.

How I reply to comments at this blog.


( Writing plans for the next six weeks, and why I shouldn't be thinking about Doctor Who (but am) )

( Publishing schedule this year )

( What my life was like 17 months ago  )

( More to the point, how do I get any writing done *now*? )

( I feel stuck at the moment )

( When to stop doing story research )

( Memorialization of my mother )

"Time is very dangerous without a rigid routine. If you do the same thing every day at the same time for the same length of time, you'll save yourself from many a sink. Routine is a condition of survival."

--Novelist Flannery O'Connor.

How I reply to comments at this blog.


( Waterman and nuclear power )

( Dinner and scheduling  )

( Fourth Priority Resolutions: Disorganized Things That I'm Not Tripping Over )

( New resolutions that don't fall into the above categories )

Looking at the four parts of this list, my feeling (other than a hysterical desire to scream, "Just burn it all down! Get it out of my life!") is that 90% of my recent problems with mental and physical clutter have arisen because of the Internet: excessive Internet usage has prevented me from having time to put the rest of my life in order. Now that I'm making some progress on the Internet front, perhaps I'll be able to accomplish more next year in digging myself out of the quagmire I'm currently trapped in.

As it is, I'm reasonably pleased with how this year went. I made progress in tackling some very serious problems, and I found that it wasn't as hard as I thought to get rid of belongings, which caused me to decide to get rid of more items than I'd originally planned. Most importantly, I achieved my #1 goal, which was to get my Internet usage under control - a goal that, for over a decade, I'd been struggling tooth-and-nail to achieve.

That I succeeded is mainly due to my determination to find a solution to that particular problem within a year of my mother's death; I wanted that to be my gift to her, because she hated how the Internet took me away from my family and friends. It's no coincidence that I finally achieved my solution on the very week of the anniversary of her death. Thank you, Mother.

Don't worry, I haven't fallen off the Internet addiction wagon. I decided at the beginning of last month to move this week's Internet day to Thursday, because Labor Day weekend is a big festival weekend in my hometown.

( Second Priority Resolutions: Health )

WEEK OF JULY 12
--Days online: 6.
--Hours online: 14.

WEEK OF JULY 19
--Days online: 6.
--Hours online: 16.

WEEK OF JULY 26
--Days online: 1.
--Hours online: 8.

WEEK OF AUGUST 2
--Days online: 1.
--Hours online: 6.

WEEK OF AUGUST 9
--Days online: 1.
--Hours online: 5.5.

WEEK OF AUGUST 16
--Days online: 1.
--Hours online: 3.

It's official. I'm in remission from my Internet addiction.

(*Bells ringing.* *Fireworks exploding.* *Twenty-one gun salute.*)

I still have one more major challenge ahead of me: this winter will be difficult, since I plan to go online less and will have fewer offline activities with which to distract myself (since I'll be homebound and won't be able to read standard-sized print, the way I can in the summer). But in celebration of what I've accomplished so far, here is a roughly chronological list of the steps that I took in my battle against my Internet addiction.

Success took me twelve years.

( My multi-step battle against Internet addiction )

Since December 2007 (after five years of considering taking this path), I've been endeavoring to living a life centered on simplicity. My primary model is the lives of Christian hermits, monks, and nuns (particularly the Desert Fathers and Mothers), but I also take inspiration from other people who have lived in simplicity.

"The sacrifices others see [the monk] making are in reality no different from the athlete's recognition that certain elements detract from one's performance."

--Frank Bianco: Voices of Silence: Lives of the Trappists Today.

Topics in this post: Internet addiction, support for solitaries, stability, meditation/contemplation, liturgical hours, work, novelties, lectio divina and Vitae Patrum, Great Books and ethics, rigid daily schedules, seasonal schedules, social interactions, overwork and tiredness, the Psalms and Thomas Coverdale, Anglican chant, arguments against solitude, grace through trial, asceticism.

( Read more... )

"Voluntary poverty can be the easiest step of all. . . . Gone is the struggle about this or that - all of it is forbidden. You own nothing. How much easier, how much simpler than our world of endless decisions between acquiring and not acquiring."

--Richard J. Foster: Freedom of Simplicity.

Topics in this post: Internet addiction, acquisitiveness, Carthusian monks, sacrifice, tidying my surroundings, schedules, skimming quotas, solitaries, rhythm versus novelty, library browsing quotas, travel quotas, Zen Buddhism and the arts, reading quotas, using simplicity as an excuse not to be simple.

( Read more... )