Oh, this one is a fabulous topic for me, indeed!
When it comes to internet distractions, I'm worse than Dug the Dog in the movie, UP! (when he sees the Squirrel!).
One of my absolute favorite scenes:
Dug: Hi there.
Carl Fredricksen, Russell: [surprised exclamations]
Carl Fredricksen: Did that dog just say "Hi there"?
Dug: Oh yes.
Carl Fredricksen: Whaa!
Dug: My name is Dug. I have just met you, and I love you.
[he jumps up on Carl]
Carl Fredricksen: Wha...
Dug: My master made me this collar. He is a good and smart master and he made me this collar so that I may speak. Squirrel!
[looks to distance for a few seconds]
As fellow professional procrastinators writers, we want to know what are FIVE of your most distracting (procrastination-worthy) things (habits, websites, etc.) on the internet?
1. Email: This rings especially true, when I'm in the query process. There simply aren't enough minutes in an hour, where I can refresh my in-box to see if I've received some type of response to my recent queries. Only to step away for a second, then run back to my keyboard with my hair on fire, and refresh again. No OCD here at all. (I hit refresh 14,369 times since I started typing this blog - amazing, huh?).
2. Google Docs: Because this is where my WIP's are being shared with my critique partners and vice versa - if you haven't tried this out, it's a must! Copy chapters of your WIP into a new document, set up which CP's you want to have access (each of my CP's all have their own document) -> it sends an email to that person, and voila! Instant ability for them to read, make comments, and save the file - and even has IM, if you're both on at the same time! Love. This.
3. AutoCrit Editing Wizard: AutoCrit Editing Wizard is an instant book editor. Depending on which version you pay for, you can upload a chapter of your manuscript (or the entire thing!) at a time, and it spits out a variety of reports including: overused words, sentence variation, cliches & redundencies, repeated words/phrases, pacing, readability, and use of the beastly "ly" (ha! catch that?) words, to name a few! I'm on this site all day long.
4. UrbanDictionary.com: I'm constantly on this site, catching up on whatever new lingo teens are speaking today. And let me tell you, I'm absolutely amazed at the said lingo, teens are speaking today! No joke, I'm not a timid individual - but there are things on this site, that make even me blush! Yikes. I find myself saying something my mother used to say, "Kids these days!".
5. Nathan Bransford's Blog: The guy is a literary God. Nuff said. PublishersMarketplace.com: Because some day, I'll be one of the mentioned debut authors on Publisher's Lunch! All kidding aside (okay, so I'm not really kidding) - this is a valuable resource for all things writing. Twitter: Again, nuff said.
Okay, so #5 may be breaching the boundries of one distraction - but I'm equally on all three, so in my mind, they're equally the same distraction (like how I did that?).