Thursday, October 28, 2010

You Don’t Have a What?

A TV.

If you follow me on Facebook, you may have seen me mention that as of October 1, 2010, I would be sans television. It’s been almost a month now . . . (she says, chewing her little fingernail).

There are a lot of reasons for this. One would be the money. As someone who went without cable from 1996 to 2009, no one was more surprised than me when I signed up for a satellite service. But the HDTV thing was coming up, and they offered me a good bundle deal, and and and . . . and I wound up with more than 200 mostly ignored channels. In addition to the local channels, I watched A&E, TNT, and USA. My addictions were (in no particular order)

The Glades
Law & Order (prime and SVU)
Rizzoli & Isles
White Collar
Royal Pains
Criminal Minds
Castle
The Big Bang Theory

Nerds and murder, which is pretty much the story of my life. And my writing.

Which brings me to the main reason I went cold turkey on the viewing.

Productivity.

Now I’ve been moving, which has zapped a lot of my off-job time. But I’ve noticed that I’m having more creative ideas, and what time I do spend writing is more relaxing and productive. I figure once I stop worrying about realtors showing a house that hasn’t been vacuumed in a month, it’ll get even better.

Do I miss it (she asks, checking on that chewed nail)? Yeah. Enough to go out a buy a new TV?

No.

I wouldn’t have believed it either. But I hope (and I know my agent hopes) that my writing career will get a jumpstart. My next book, House of Secrets, launches in April, so now is the perfect time to submit.

But if you like serial stories, stay tuned here. The CRAFTIE Ladies are about to start a new one...

What would you miss most if you were without a television?

4 comments:

Lynette Eason said...

Hi Ramona, YES, I would miss it. BUT, I really want to get rid of it. Only no one else in my family will let me. :( While I'm pretty good about keeping it turned off during the day, it's at night that I'm hooked. And Lifetime Movie Network tempts me like no other. I figure if I get rid of the television and I get really desperate, I can always watch something online. Anyway, best wishes with the submissions.

Lynette

Pamela Tracy said...

I'm pretty much like Lynette. I'd love to watch Castle and Rizzoli and Isles, but I don't have time to watch TV. I've seen one episode of each of the above shows. I have, however, watched hours of Scooby Doo and Caillou and the Berenstain Bears.
And, I watch DVDs.

Dana Mentink said...

I would miss the cooking channel. Mind you I never actually cook any of the recipes, but I enjoy watching Guy Fieri checking out those to die for restaurants. We've been to his restaurant here in CA and it's pretty nifty.

Lisa Mondello said...

My hats off to you. There'd be a mutiny in this house if I cancelled cable. I watch a lot of Netflix and movies, usually in the wee hours when everyone else is in bed. But I do have some guilty pleasures and I record them to the DVR so I can watch them when it's my turn for the TV, again, usually in the wee hours.