I will start with a contradictory statement about myself.  I am both a technophobe and a serious techno geek.  I have been involved in whatever the hot techie toys happened to be for the last 30 years.  I learn as much as I can about technology because it is both interesting and terrifying.  Try to picture your life without either the cell phone or e-mail.  You begin to get the idea.  Plus, I really don't trust the words, "It's in the computer like that."  I want to know at least how that happened.

I will confess that if it were not for the computer and its wonderful word processing softwares, I would not be a writer.  I don't think I could do the whole typing it once and hoping.  Forget pounding out 100,000 words long hand.  That ain't happening.

So, if tech is necessary, when is it too much?  Recently, I have found myself retreating from much of the wonderful toys that are just waiting to eat up every spare moment of my time.  By the time you check your e-mail, answer all your social networking messages, answer a few application requests, fiddle with the bluetooth, check out your tweets, etc., it is shocking the number of hours that have disappeared.

It is becoming more and more difficult to budget real writing time versus communication time.  As if just plain everyday living can't find enough ways to keep you from writing, now the pressure to e-communicate is crushing.

I am returning to a basic idea in accounting, ROI.  ROI stands for return on investment.  As a writer, I have begun to brutally look at the time I am spending at the computer from this harsh point of view.  What I am getting out of each keystroke?  How much was my time worth?  Did I just spend that last hour in a method of communication that in some way advanced my career or is that yet another lost hour of my life that did nothing to meet my next deadline?

This may sound harsh, but the publishing business has never been in worse shape than it is today.  If you wish to have any chance, it may be time to type more and tech less.