amych, I just went back up and reread your comments about my blog post and I'm ashamed that I thought I posted a thank you for your thoughtful response, but never actually did.

I'm embarrassed. I come in here for just that sort of thing and then made it seem like I was ignoring you.

I truly appreciate you taking the time to read and comment.

::hanging head::

I've been talking about needing to get motivated.

Well, this TEDTalk, in just 2:33 minutes, has given me a real boost.

Matt Cutt talks about trying something new for 30 days.

One of my classic coping mechanisms has always been, "I can do anything for 20 minutes." This mantra got me through many a 70 mile bike ride and, to be frank, some pretty ugly things in my life.

This last month, I kept a daily food blog and have lost 10+ lbs.

Now, I'm keeping a time log to up my lamentably weak efficiency.

Does anyone have a good template for such a thing? I've googled my fingers to the knuckle and have found a pdf, but it is only for a work day. I want a full day and would rather not waste the time of creating a new one!

Google docs has a great 'personal efficiency dashboard' with lots of cool features, but one of the reasons I am doing this is to get farther away from my computer!

bonny, do you just want something that looks like this? [link] Or do you want dates and stuff on there, too?

I use tags and categories to browse websites all the time. The more they purport to contain actual useful or entertaining content, the more I want to design the way I consume it. In a pinch, it might decide why I choose one source over another.

smonster, the one I have..and wish was adaptable is here in pdf.

It features spaces for categories and requires only lines or checkmarks to indicate time spent. It goes from 7 to 5.

I want to be able to add set categories and increase the hours.

ita, thanks for your thoughts on tags and categories. That's helpful.

Following on that, is it better to have the t & cs in a column, or can they be within the posts?

(I think I know what you will say, but I want to make sure...because it will make me wrong in what I said to the developer...up next, humble pie.)

eta: wish, not which

bonny, what's your spreadsheet of choice? Excel or Numbers or Open Office? If all you want is that doc with extended hours and the ability to add some categories, I can make you one in just a few minutes and would be happy to.

Or, you should be able to find a pdf-to-excel converter for free.

Excel!

You can do that?

I would really appreciate it. Thanks!

Taking this party to email...

Speaking of efficiency, what's the name of that program that blocks you from certain programs, like, um, Twitter, for certain time slots?

And does it have to be from say, 1 to 3 everyday, or can you set it up on a daily basis?

I work a ton, but it's totally not a fixed schedule, and will be even less so, when M gets here on Saturday. I think it would be very useful to block myself from certain sites sometimes, as I have no self-discipline when it comes to multiple tabs.

Also, and feel free to pester me and kick my ass about it, I have pushed back my official (in my mind) launch date for my website yet again. 3rd times the charm, right? I should have my header image and graphics all finalized and finished tomorrow evening (thank you, my dear friend J), and up Thursday morning. I have to drive to Topeka Thursday or Friday and take care of a car thing, which will take most of a day...ugh.

So, it's Friday or Monday. I'm thinking Friday, as M should be here this weekend and still getting situated Monday. But I wonder if things would get lost in the shuffle of a summer Friday? I mean publically.

I am possibly overthinking this.

Oh! And FYI, I will be running a giveaway for my launch, to drive traffic and interest -- I'll be taking entries and then doing a drawing through a randomizer (uh, anyone know a DEAD simple randomizer?) to give away a free copyedit of the first 50 pages or less of a fiction manuscript.

I'm still dinking around with my header graphics and such, and no info is set up on my webpage yet re: this giveaway (if you go to my website in the next 3 days, colors and images are likely to change w/o warning) but this is a FYI for anyone interested or with friends, etc. who might be interested. I'm still thinking aloud, as it were, right now about it.

Also, I'm looking for opinions on how long I should leave such a contest open? I'm thinking a week. And promoing the contest, and such on Twitter? How much is too much? 1 announcement a day, until contest is closed? Too much?

I want to be a positive promoter, but I don't want to drive potential clients or contacts away by being annoying.

(thread hijack, mea culpa)

Erin, I used Leech Block. [link] It's very customizable and easy to use.

bonny, insent with a draft.