I have now gone several weeks without cable television. Technically, I still have "basic" cable, but it does not work, so I have lived off the channels I can pick up with my antenna. Despite no longer having the cooking shows or my weekly fix of Ghost Adventures (the best comedy that is not meant to be a comedy on television), there has yet to be a night I came home and missed turning on the television.
Many more opportunities appear when the television does not take the center stage of the night. As much as I thought I would be reading, I have actually spent more time studying various things for work or just personal edification. I have also taken the time to write some every night - whether it is with inspiration from the people sitting around a coffee shop or the random ideas that have popped into my head.
The more I have been writing, the easier it has been to write, which is far different than saying the writing has gotten any better, it is just easier to get words down on the page. Using my iPad as the primary composition device has also allowed me to work with far fewer distractions than working on the computer. I have not quite mastered the habit of turning off the chat program or Twitter when working with a laptop. At least on my iPad, the notice that something has happened out in cyberspace that I may be interested in comes with a simple bar turning at the top of the page instead of some obnoxious sound (unless I plug speakers into my docking station).
What I most need to focus on is the editing. Once NaBloPoMo ends and the pressure to post every day subsides, I will not feel like I have to go on and publish something just to get it out there. Until then, I am keeping my eyes open for a daily muse to get me through one furious time of typing and a basic visual spell check. I long ago learned that just because no words on the screen have a dotted red line below them I should believe that every word is spelled correctly. Too many actual words lurk behind a simple typo, and given that my left hand types faster than my right hand (and I am right-handed for the most part), many typos come from the over achievement of the left digits.
The other project I have taken on in writing receives a bit more thorough editing because it is topical and people will be able to take something meaningful away from it if they read it regularly. I will post more about it for the two people who read this blog on a regular basis when it is fully functioning (yes, another blog - and likely a third is coming along soon).
We shall soon see just what no longer turning the television on will lead me to do.
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