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Craft of Writing

Kimberly R. Brown

Taming the Writing List Monster

It's a familiar story to many writers who are plugged in and Internet-savvy. Taking the good advice of writing advice books, you've carved out an hour and a half in the early morning for your writing. You wake up at 5:30, start the coffee, and turn on the computer.

As the computer boots up, you sip the coffee, wishing you could just mainline it straight to your bloodstream. You sit down, fingers poised, ready to go. But first, you think, you'll check your e-mail. It won't take long, and you need the coffee to work before you start trying to think creatively anyway.

The e-mail starts to download. The people on your various writers' lists have been busy overnight. You scan the e-mails. One of your e-friends is announcing the debut of her first book. Of course you have to send her a congratulations message, since she always sends you one when you have good news. Someone mentions a market that you make note of. It's always good to collect potential markets. You post a thank-you to the list for the market. You read a long-winded rant about the difference between print-on-demand and self-publishing. You've heard it all before, but this writer does have some personal experience going for him. He makes some good points, but there are some things you just have to clear up. You start typing your response.

Suddenly, as the sunlight starts to filter in the window, you realize your tiny bit of hard-earned writing time is gone. It's time to wake your spouse and kids, and you haven't written a thing besides e-mails.

If this sounds familiar, you are probably allowing your e-mail groups to eat into your valuable writing time.

Writers and e-mail lists are a natural fit. Writers express themselves by writing, and writing lists give us a way to do that. They also provide a way to network with other writers, find out about new markets and conferences, solicit critiques for your work, ask for advice about sticky plot points, and make new friends. An off-hand comment or thread can even spark new ideas.

But these lists can be incredible time-eaters too. If you're ready to tame the habit, try these tips:

First, be choosy about which lists you join. You don't have to join every list with "writing" in the title. If it's a list that really sounds interesting, join and lurk for a week or two. Do the posters really discuss valuable writing topics, or is it a chatty group that discusses anything and everything? Those can be fun, but you must make the decision that your writing time is more important. If you're not receiving information about writing, you'd probably do well to quit the group.

Most lists have a "digest" mode, where you receive one e-mail per day with all posts. Use it, if it's available. The list owner can help you figure it out. As an alternative, you can set some lists to "no e-mail" and only read posts on the archived Internet sites. This helps you get away from the urgent, "must be read and answered right now" feeling.

Set aside two times a day to check and respond to e-mail. Once a day isn't enough for a true addict, so you might as well plan on twice. But don't count it as part of your writing time. If you have 90 minutes of hard-earned time in the morning, acknowledge that you'll spend a half-hour reading and responding to list e-mails, and designate a solid hour for writing. Then use your self-control to close your e-mail program when the half-hour is up. And don't open it again. Or, do your hour's worth of writing first, and "reward" yourself by a peek at your e-mail. You may be surprised that once you're deep into the writing, the e-mail doesn't seem so important. Plan on checking your e-mail again before bed, also allowing a half-hour.

When you do start writing, close down your Internet connection completely, if possible. Consider investing in a second computer, possibly a laptop, with no Internet connection at all. A used computer that's not the latest and greatest can serve as a terrific inexpensive word processor.

Delete list e-mails based on subject without reading them. This takes courage, because there's always the fear you're going to miss something. What if someone responds to an e-mail whose subject is "Re:re:fwd:my novel is finally out!" with a new market or writing contest? You just have to take that chance because wading through the many responses to one topic just isn't worth the time wasted.

This one is tough: if you think your online friends can't possibly do without your daily (or hourly) e-mails, try this: don't post anything for several days or even a week. I mean nothing. You'll be amazed that no one notices you're gone. It's not that they don't like you. It's that they respond to the e-mails they see. The point is that all your "friends" can do without you while you spend your time doing something more meaningful to you: writing.

Finally, practice good net etiquette. Show your list-mates how a professional conducts herself online. Remember, some of the people on the writing list may be editors. If you frequently show unprofessional, contentious, or juvenile behavior, it's likely they'll remember that if you submit a story to them.

Here are a few ways you can be a better list-mate:

• Many lists have rules posted on their websites or in their welcoming e-mails. They're there for a reason. Follow them.
• Think before you post. Is your response is really necessary? Are you just repeating something someone else has already said? If someone asks for advice and you find yourself beginning with, "I really don't know much about it, but..." chances are you don't need to respond. Let those that really know answer the questions. And, don't respond to a post just to say, "me too" or "I agree."
• Always change the subjects of your posts to reflect what the topic really is, especially for topics that have morphed.
• Try to avoid personal back-and-forth one-liner conversations with another member of the list ON the list. Even if you are making incredibly clever and witty comments, chances are other people on the list aren't amused.
• If you really need to respond to several e-mails, feel free to combine your responses into one post. But be sure to change the subject line accordingly so people who are following a certain thread will read your e-mail.
• Don't send congratulations e-mails meant for one person to the whole list.
When you do post, make sure it's pertinent to the list. Feel free to pass along new writing markets or writing websites, but don't pass along spam, virus warnings, or humor you've found on the Internet.
• If ten people send you on-list congratulations, have some consideration and respond in one "Thanks all" e-mail to the list. Or respond privately. You don't have to send ten separate responses to the list and your list-mates will be glad you didn't.
• If you're responding to a lengthy post, delete all but the most pertinent parts. Those on digest mode (which should be you, too, if you've taken my advice) will thank you. Especially delete those ads some listservs, like Yahoogroups, puts at the bottom of the e-mail. But do make sure you put at least a snippet of what you're responding to. An e-mail that's completely out of context will probably be not understood and deleted.
• If a topic comes up that you feel you simply must post a lengthy discourse on, especially if it's a potentially inflammatory subject, file your answer in your drafts folder and let it sit at least a few hours, or better, until the next day. Read it the next day before you hit that "send" button. Chances are, you really don't need to send it at all.