Thursday, April 28, 2011

Xing Out the Extraneous

(According to my dictionary, xing is an acceptable spelling for crossing, so I'm not cheating!)

extraneous - 1. introduced or coming from without; not forming an essential or proper part; 2. not pertinent; irrelevant.
 

One of the fabulous things about this A-Z Blogging Challenge is I have come to "meet" so many other fabulous bloggers with a variety of interests.  There's literally dozens of wonderful blogs I've discovered and am now following.


Blowing a kiss To all now following me, welcome!  Blowing kisses and so very glad you are here.  I hope to post content in the future that's interesting, informative, and entertaining enough to persuade you to stick around. 


One of the terrible things about this A-Z challenge is that there are so very many people participating.  If there are more hours in the day than there used to be, they forgot to clue me in on how to access them.  It's my intention, in May, to get caught up visiting on all the blogs I may have missed, and at least say hello.

However, call me a bitch (you wouldn't be the first,) but I'm not going to follow everyone I visit, nor auto-follow those who follow me.  (see above about hours, day.)  In fact, there may be blogs that I am now following, that I may decide later are simply not "doing it for me," and I may stop following them.

This doesn't mean that your blog isn't excellent.  It just means that it's not a good fit for me, right this minute, in terms of my personal goals and available time.  It also doesn't mean, if you visit my blog and leave comments, that I won't come visit your blog from time to time.

When I Follow a blog, I don't just click the "follow" button and then, See ya!  I visit the blog regularly, try to make helpful and/or interesting comments, and connect with the author.  (Again, see above about hours, days.)  See yesterday's post about Why Do We Follow - or Not Follow - A Blog for more ideas.

Like most writers, I have a day job, plus family & friends who would like a sop of attention thrown to them now and again.

Then there's my dream.  That dream is to eventually make a decent living as a professional author.  To that end, I need to eliminate or X out the extraneous, the things that are distracting me, eating up time, and not advancing me towards realizing my goal.  Which every writer needs to do. 
Be ruthless about protecting writing days, i.e., do not cave in to endless requests to have "essential" and "long overdue" meetings on those days. The funny thing is that, although writing has been my actual job for several years now, I still seem to have to fight for time in which to do it. Some people do not seem to grasp that I still have to sit down in peace and write the books, apparently believing that they pop up like mushrooms without my connivance. I must therefore guard the time allotted to writing as a Hungarian Horntail guards its firstborn egg.   ~J.K. Rowling

To that end... sorry, TV! You're staying off, even if there is a great car chase on.
Modified from EamonCurry at Flickr



Just Saying No to Suduko.
Modified from wampyrii at Flickr



Pleasure reading?  In moderation, okay, in excess, no more.  <weeping>




Goodbye, LOLcats!
Modified from LOLCats

Okay, maybe I'm not quite ready to go cold turkey on LOLcats, and I do have the excuse of using the stuff on the blog, but I have to cut down looking at silly things on the Internet, like cats playing patty-cake (still, wasn't that hilarious?)

I hope if you've found and liked my blog, that you will follow and keep coming back, but I understand that you, too, have time limitations, and I may not be "doing it" for you.  Your main interest be trading patterns with other bloggers who knit dog sweaters.  Which you won't find here.

You may also be a writer, but for whatever reason, your reaction to this blog is not "I'm in love!" (or even like), but, "Meh."

If you've stopped by and don't choose to come back, thanks for stopping by, and happy travels to the blogs and sites that do hit the spot for you.

Blowing a kissIf you've stopped by and decided to follow, please click a reaction button or post a comment, on this or future blogs, as to what you really liked (or hated,) so I can give you more of it.  (More of what you liked, that is, not more of what you hated.)

And thank you, every comment means a lot to me!  More kisses!