Internet: Friend or Foe

Have you noticed that spending time "doing research" can very easily start to take away from your actual writing time?  I know that research is necessary, but experience tells me that I can sometimes get carried away with it and neglect my writing as a result.  It is so difficult, though, to limit myself with such a wealth of information at my fingertips!  I have found so many useful sites that offer tips and a whole lot more about launching a successful writing career.  I don't want to cut myself off from good advice, but I also don't want to miss out on my writing time...so what to do? 

After brainstorming, I think I've found a simple solution.  Before stating the solution, I have to mention that I have not been able to successfully set a daily writing schedule for myself since the amount of writing time available for me each day varies, mainly according to my munchkin's schedules.  Without further ado, here is the solution: I will go about my writing projects in a specific order every day.  Let me explain.  Since setting specific time frames for writing projects feels like an impossible feat for me right now,  I will just tackle my writing projects in a way that will hopefully be conducive to being more productive.  For example, each day that I sit down at my computer (or pick up a pen and paper) the first thing I will do is work on the article that I wrote the day before.  After I have spent some time on that, I will start writing a new article.  Only after I have worked on both of those, will I check my email and work on my blog (both HUGE distractions for me.) 

Stated simply, I will tackle my daily projects in this order:

1) Finish up article started on previous day

2) Start new article

3) Check email

4) Work on blog

Tomorrow will be the beginning of this new schedule (if you can call it that.)  I'm hoping to eventually set time frames for myself, but first let's see how this goes. Wish me luck!