I have a bit of an addictive personality. By that I do not mean people who meet me can’t get enough of me (though I would like to believe this is true). I mean that when I find something I like, I can’t stop watching/reading/doing it. Case in point? I just bought a TARDIS/Dalek salt and pepper shaker set.
Enough said, I think.
These random addictions–Doctor Who, fanfiction, Community–interfere with my ability to do anything else. When I’m that obsessively interested in something, it’s hard for other things, like say editing, to capture my attention. This is why I am on a fanfiction free diet until I publish Loving Miss Darcy. Besides needing a detox, I also need to focus on the book that I am writing, rather than mad scribblings on the internet.
Okay, so how does Lizzie Bennet come into this?
Last week when I was sick and trawling Twitter out of boredom, John Green tweeted a link to his latest video. I watched it, and then I watched another, and 90 minutes later I finally got up to eat. I find YouTube to be incredibly addictive, because as soon as you finish one video, they offer up another 30 you would probably like to watch.
If you’re an Austen fan, chances are you’ve heard of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries. This is a fantastic YouTube series of Pride and Prejudice that tells the story is a series of vlogs done by Lizzie. It’s an amazing modern take on Pride and Prejudice that’s taken off like wildfire. (The popularity is due in part to the fact that Hank Green, John Green’s brother and the other half of the YouTube phenomenon Vlog Brothers.)
I do have one defense against my utter lack of self-control, and that is an occasional iron-clad will to avoid a thing entirely. I keep a list of television shows I might like to watch (Once Upon a Time is on the list), and I cycle through them as I tire of current obsessions. I refuse to add one to my docket until I’ve got space.
So… Lizzie Bennet Diaries? I watched the first 10 episodes, and Liz has enticed me to watch a few more recent ones, but otherwise, I’m on hiatus until I finish my book and… maybe get caught up on a few more things. After all, I’ll have a backlog of fanfic to read at that point.
However, I feel no compunction about getting other people hooked on things. If you haven’t heard of the Lizzie Bennet Diaries yet, give it a try!
You’re a bad, bad, person, getting people hooked on to fantastic things that eat up their time and energy when YOU DON’T GET HOOKED YOURSELF. Gah. We need to watch another 5-10 episodes next Monday.
I get hooked on plenty of things! Cf previous references to Doctor Who.
The Lizzie Bennet diary videos are great aren’t they? I am up to date now so they take five mins a time rather than stealing your whole evening with just one more, followed by another just one more
See, I realize that once I’m caught up it’s not much of a commitment at all. (Though I would point out my previous comment about getting sucked into YouTube.) It’s just a matter of getting caught up, which is, at this point, a 3 hour commitment.