Hooked by the Internet!

It seems to me that I'm spending way too much time online these days. Granted, when a new book is released it's almost carved in stone that you have to check your book's ranking on Amazon (which changes every hour), and the publicity work every writer is forced to do online never seems to stop. Nonetheless, I think checking email, Facebook and Twitter gradually, or not so gradually, grows to be more than a habit; it becomes an addiction!

I've tried promising myself that I'll only check my email two or three times a day, that's it, no more three times a day max! I'm sure I don't have to tell you how well that worked. My inbox is like an irresistible magnet, taking physical control of my fingers and forcing me, always against my will, of course, to click on that harmless-looking link. Come on now I ask you, how can anyone resist that kind of power?

One day last week I kept track of how much time I spent reading email, tracking Facebook and Twitter postings, and taking a "quick" peek at Amazon and Barnes and Noble book rankings. It came to a staggering two hours!! Two hours that could have been spent far more productively working on my new book. But I can't seem to change -- I admit that it's controlling me. Two hours a day times seven days a week is 14 hours a week, 56 hours a month! My name is Shirley and I'm an addict!!

If anyone out there in cyberspace has a cure for this illness -- tricks that work, meditations, hot line phone numbers, anything! -- I beg you, please share them with me!