/*from pinterest*/
It had to happen. Facebook just got too interesting. So, taking a page from Siri Paulson, I installed Freedom.

Imagine. I have to trick myself into thinking I cannot access the internet while I am writing my books. What has the world come to?

At any rate, this Freedom Software app seems to work for me. The default turns the internet off for 45 minutes. I can set it for as little as 15 minutes and as long as 8 hours. And if something drastic happens, I can reboot. But rebooting takes forever so who wants to do that?

This app works on both Macs and PCs. It only costs $10, but there’s a Free Trial period if you’re commitment phobic.

The first day I tried it, I wrote for two hours. It lets you know your time is up, but I was into the writing by then so I kept going. The thing about writing is it’s so hard to get started. Then once you get started, it’s so hard to stop.

What’s hard about starting?

Fear, I suppose. Fear that my brain is not ready, that my muse is not ready, that I will have nothing to write about. So I figure, might as well see what’s happening on Twitter or Facebook or the blogs I like to visit. It’s the digital equivalent of heading down to the coffee room to chat with the other employees/writers. And that can lead to a huge time drain.

So this little program lets me get started. Thank you, Siri, for telling me about it.

Freedom icon from http://macfreedom.com/