It has occurred to me that I have terrible time-management skills. I should be able to get much more done than I do, and yet here I am, a mountain of homework to finish, a To-Be-Read list that is taking over my office, a novel I haven't touched in months, and a blog that is coated in cobwebs and feeling neglected. Not to mention the laundry that needs folding, the floors that need sweeping and mopping, the dishes that need washing, the hair that needs dying and the waistline that needs trimming.

So, what am I doing with all my time? Aside from the full-time job, I have no idea. A lot of Facebook and Candy Crush, for starters. Throw in some staring into space, watching random TV shows, and multiple trips to the kitchen for snacks, and that about sums up every single time I sit down at my computer to get something done. Every free moment I have is filled with good intentions. "I've got an hour before I have to leave for work. I should write the rest of this chapter," or "An entire afternoon to myself? Time to catch up on that homework!"

And yet, all those hours slip away with nothing to show for them.

Part of the problem is, I can't seem to focus on one thing for longer than ten minutes before I move onto Facebook or the kitchen. I blame the Internet for that. It seems I am always, always distracted by All The Things!

What is a girl to do?

Buckle down and get shit done, that's what.

It has become clear to me that I need to sit down and budget out my time each week. I need to figure out the best way to be productive with that time. I need to suddenly become an uber-organized person.

That's like asking for a miracle, eh?

How about you? How to you stay motivated and focused? Do you have any time management tips? If so, I'm all ears!

It is too early. Or at least by my standards. I work nights, usually, and today I'm working a day shift. My eyelids are still heavy and begging to be relieved of their duties, and my head is still fuzzy. Sadly, I can't go back to bed. And so I'm here.

The other day, I had a few spare hours in which to write. I found myself procrastinating. Looking for anything to do that was NOT writing. I cleaned the bathroom, loaded the dishwasher, vacuumed, and reorganized my book case. Finally, out of things to do, I sat down at the desk I was so proud of putting together this past winter, opened my word document and...got on the internet.

The internet is evil It distracts me from my writerly duties and sucks me into its wonderful world of both useless and useful information. I cyber-stalk celebrities on Twitter, see what my friends are up to on Facebook and Myspace (yes, I have both...I can't part with Myspace!) and read an endless supply of blogs. And then I sign into Yahoo messenger and chat with various friends as they sign in and out, getting on with their lives much quicker than I do.

But the other day, all this procrastination worked in my favor. One of the friends I chat with is also a writer. She was lamenting on her lack of writing, and so I suggested we write, uninterrupted, for 10 minutes. No internet-browsing, no chatting, nothing. Just writing. The first time, I ended up with 350 words. Excited by this, we did another two rounds. I got 900 words in 30 minutes. I was thrilled. Later that night, I wrote another 200. I'm sure it's mostly crap, but it's words!!

I'm still nowhere near the 30k I want to write this month, but it's a start. Also, at the top of my page, I installed a handy-dandy, shiny and cute word-count thingamajig, as suggested by Erin Thanks to the awesome advice you guys gave me on my last entry, I have been much more motivated and excited to write. All of you rock my socks. Thanks again!

Alright. I've got 22 minutes before I start work. Maybe I can squeeze in a few hundred words.