Procrastination is Your Friend

I procrastinate a lot while I’m writing. At first, I resisted the temptation to wander away from Word and onto the internet. When I did “slip up” and check out celebrity gossip instead of working on the next paragraph, I mentally beat myself up.

Over time, I realized that allowing myself online breaks was actually more productive. When I treated my writing time like it was a prison sentence, writing sucked. Granted, sometimes writing sucks no matter what you do, and you still have to sit in that chair and slog away at it. On the days that I just can’t get into gear, writeordie.com is my salvation.

But on the days that everything’s flowing pretty well, I shamelessly enjoy trashy internet getaways.  In no particular order, here are my top 5 destinations for procrastination:

1.       Daily Mail. Some people call this the “Daily Fail.” I call it tabloid journalism at its most delicious.

2.       Reblogging Donk. There’s nothing like schadenfreude to calm the anxiety that being on the verge of querying your first novel produces.  Okay, benzodiazepines are fairly effective, too. But online, RBD is the best.

3.       GetOffMyInternets. I’m a fascinated lurker.  There’s something so meta about a blog about blogs that suck.  Plus, it’s really funny, when the commenters aren’t plunging down a rabbit hole of vitriol. Or maybe that’s when it’s funniest?

4.      DListed.There are a million gossip sites out there, but this one actually has a point of view. Sometimes I read it while I’m having a snack, which is a bad idea, because I’m a delicate flower who gets grossed out easily. 

5.       Free Katie. This site analyzes the lives of Katie Holmes, Tom Cruise, and Suri Cruise, through an anti-Scientology lens. If it sounds a little crazy, that’s because it is.  But the archives are totally addictive. For me, a thread that investigates the “suspicious” pregnancy of Katie Holmes via a tabloid photo collage is the holy grail of internet procrastination.