List serves, newsletters, blog posts, and social media can become a firehose blast of information. I love using them when I need inspiration or motivation to write. I search for info when I have questions or want more information on a topic. And I follow editors and agents to see what they are interested in and what they are talking about. But how do you know if you are involved in too much?
The answer will be different for each creative person at different times. At the beginning, we all have a lot to learn. A beginner should probably spend more time on absorbing information, learning craft, learning how the business works, and examining what is in the market now. Seasoned writers/illustrators should have a background of understanding–not that they can’t learn more–so should spend less time. However, it all depends on your purpose for subscribing, joining, participating, reading, etc.
Here are some ideas to consider:
How much time a day do you spend on the following: taking in the feed of information, the business of writing/illustrating, creating, and revising? Your answers may be different each day, so you might need to chart a week or two to see what is actually happening. Be honest with yourself.
Is your schedule regularly out of balance? Whatever that balance should be for you, of course.
Do you have certain times that are dedicated to creating and/or revising? Are you allowing other things to interfere with those times?
Do you have too much to read in your allotted time? Or are you overwhelmed by how much there is?
Is some of the information not as valuable as it once was?
Are you learning something new?
Would receiving a list serve in digest format cut down on the number of emails sent from that group?
Do you need/enjoy the socialization you’re getting or is it a drag on you mentally?
What are your current goals? You could be in a submission phase, so creating less, and that would be okay.
Are you actually creating? Are you making excuses for not creating? (ouch!) Or procrastinating? Chuck Wendig said, “Here are the two states in which you may exist: person who writes, or person who does not. If you write: you are a writer. If you do not write: you are not.”
Answering these questions for yourself can help you determine if you need to adjust the feed. As Brooke Warner says, “For those of you dealing with too much too much too much, spend some time prioritizing.” (From the post 3 Ways Writers Get Overwhelmed – and What to Do about It.)
My Coping Mechanisms:
Periodically I go through and unsubscribe from newsletters and blogs that I realize I’m not reading. Sometimes, I delete any nonpersonal posts over two months old. At times my life is too busy and I know something must go permanently, so I ruthlessly cut the “I would like to” reads and the “interesting, but not necessary” online writing groups.
In the past I’ve set myself a schedule allotting time for the tasks I want to complete. The only one that was allowed to exceed the scheduled time was creating. Some writers use a timer or install an app that nags. This can be to remind you to quit or to remind you to keep going.
Re-evaluation is necessary for me as life and creative needs change.
What are your coping mechanisms? Feel free to share in the comments.
