The Lighthouse

the lighthouse

22 July 2013

Of faffing and writing: the challenge

Right. I was spending nearly every waking moment of the day at my computer - and most of that online doing very unnecessary things - pretending to write (do comments on blogs count as writing?) And then my internet connection failed and then my computer died. Coincidence or Divine intervention? Whichever it was, I got out of the habit of internet idleness and found myself actually writing On paper. And reading! Real books!

But now I'm back online, and I see it happening already, only two weeks into plugged in again. I'm faffing about and wasting time, not to mention brain cells. Argh! So I am resolved to spend less time online. Not sure exactly how I will manage to limit myself, but it must be done.

And what is one of the first things I'm going to do?  Take up Jennifer Fulwiler's challenge over at Conversion Diary to write seven posts in seven days. Barmy? Yes. I'm looking for writing prompts and challenges and this is a good one. I also think it will help direct my time online, give me something legitimate to do while logged on. Let's see if it works!

So, first topic of the blog-a-day challenge:
Office supplies!

I love them. Honest and for true, deep down love. I can spend hours - and have done - browsing the aisles of a big name office supply store. When I left New Town, my work colleagues gave me a gift certificate for that store, knowing it would be put to good use. I bring my own pens and post-its to work, and have ensured everyone knows my policy: paws off. When I go to The Giant Book Store, I head to the journals and note paper, sometimes before even looking at a proper book.
So imagine my delight yesterday, when after sipping on a lovely-but-overpriced beverage from Herman Melville's coffee shop I wandered into the bookstore to discover this:


and this:
 

The company is called Poppin. Their tag line is "Work happy" and honestly, who could resist being happy with such fun, vibrant, well made, well designed tools to play...err work with? The products, according the box my new - and most excellent - 'Heavy Weight' pen came in, are: Dreamt up in New York - Very well made in China for Poppin. I'm a fan.
 

4 comments:

  1. Well. This settles it. We are twins separated at birth, which is fortunate considering the fact that we were born a generation apart. But never mind that. Someone on this earth shares my love for Office Supply stores!! Paper! Pens! Markers! Pencils! Clips! Containers for pens and markers and pencils and clips!

    How could a person ever have enough of them?

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  2. A person can NEVER have enough of them, because just when you think you're set with the pens and markers and pencils and clips, you realize you also need them in Tiffany Blue.

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  3. Love the office supplies. 'Nuf said.

    I recently set up an account for the Little Man on my laptop. Then I promptly went into the Parental Controls and set a one hour limit for the amount of time per day he can spend on the computer. Perhaps something similar will help you unplug and enter into your writing/reading/rithmatic?

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  4. That's an idea, Carly. I've thought about using an application that shuts down access to the internet for a set amount of time. I might go that route. Of course that means being disciplined about the proceedings, rather than playing around with it, and waiting on the muse.
    Professional and disciplined. With cute office supplies. Work happy!

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