Monday, April 18, 2011

The Perks of Banning

No, I'm not talking about banning of books. While I suspect there's a certain visibility that it offers a book, that's not my point today. I'm talking about banning as a means of self-discipline.

The cold, hard, nasty, grimy, tear-worthy facts:

I've bought 41 books in the last month. 38 of them have been for Kindle.

So, I've banned myself off Amazon (other than buying the books for the giveaways, if the winners are in the US) because apparently moderation is not a word in my vocabulary. I'll be staying away for overlord of all things "e-" until the end of June. I'm not even going to make any pretense about going past that. Firstly, there's no way I'll miss out on the summer releases. Secondly, I just won't last that long. A reasonable goal is always better for me. If I know a goal is unreasonable or will require a supreme effort, I often give up on it before I really get started.


As writers, we often have to ban (and bribe) ourselves to get anything done.

- No tv except on weekends
- No snacks until I finish this chapter
- No internet or background programs while working on my MS

and et cetera and so forth...

What have you had to ban yourself from to acheive your writing goals (or your credit card's life?)

2 comments:

Vegetarian Cannibal said...

I wish I had discipline. That's partly my problem, lol. I used to be so diligent about things like maintaining a healthy weight, writing on a timely schedule, finishing projects...

Now...? Pffft. Haha!

Natalie Aguirre said...

I probably should ban myself from reading blogs. But will I? I have been trying to be sure I write a bit before work, at lunch if I take a full lunch hour, and some of the weekend. It's working, though some of the time is getting blog posts ready. But at least I'm writing.

Good luck on the ban on Amazon. Maybe though you can tell yourself to read what you have first.