Blog Dis
Tedium ta-dumb ta-dumb
2025-07-08
None of us wants to be bored out of our bloody skulls, to reach such a tedious level of interaction that you'd rather watch dry paint peel off the wall. The kind of tedium about which I speak has everything to do with the more boring elements of our jobs, the unsavory tasks that we'd rather avoid, kind of like pulling out weeds before planting new flowers in our garden that will eventually elevate into a bloom. The weeds play a vital role, as far as they're concerned, maybe less so with the garden's aesthetic look. Keep in mind that dandelions are considered to be weeds but they are often the first food source for bees come Springtime.
Yet, when it comes to our individual jobs, each of us would be able to highlight, specifically, the elements of our work that bore us to tears. For me, it's the mind-numbing inputting of new contacts and details into database systems, pertaining to corporations — this is as boring as it gets. I remember tracking and collecting business cards whenever I sold my novels at events, followed up by inputting these new contacts into a spreadsheet for those times when I'd be ready to blast out a message to readers, to pass on updates and the like, as well as to make announcements on upcoming events. Now all of this tedium has been replaced by social networks where the onus is put on us, as the author, to build a following, so we can bombard them with witty posts aka updates. Not for me, however. I admit to being negligent when it comes to building followings, and I'm still guilty to this day. For me, it has always been about laying down a new chapter.
To be a pimp, that is an author who promotes their work, after all the writing is done, is a form of hardship and feels like torture. I acknowledge, however, that it has to be done, despite knowing inwardly that it's as boring as all get out. What I've learned over the last two decades is that the point of boredom is to acknowledge your brain has a limit to just how much garbage it can and is willing to process. At one point, I had an email distribution list that numbered in the 600+ range, which doesn't seem like much when compared to social networks, but when issuing emails to hundreds of persons, and then reconciling bounce-backs, this took as much time if not more than compiling the distribution list in the first place.
You see how tedium works? The most tedious of tasks do not deliver a cherry on top of your work; they'll create a new layer of work, over top the existing, and then you're slowly dragged into the sewer along with the tedium.
And then Anti-Spam laws were introduced in Canada back in 2014, which doesn't seem like a long time ago, but 11 years is a long time when you consider the length of time that we've had social networks (roughly 27 years). Where the Anti-Spam law was put into place to curtail the flow of unsolicited commercial emails, this pails in comparison to the current variety of unwanted hits which come in the form of advertising, bots and fake friend requests that permeate every single social network. I never wanted to be a Spam girl, any more than I want to extend a phony friendship online thru my social networks. So, when I accept a new friend request, and the newest so-called friend slips into my DMs, seconds after I've accepted their request, I instantly hit the ignore button and reflect back on how unwanted emails used to drive me to distraction.
Tedium often results in one boring task becoming upgraded and replaced with an equally boring task. You can either press on, and push thru the boredom, or you can wait patiently for the boring task to change. Within corporations, top client lists will continue to be developed but these have become refined to include an 'opt-in' checkbox whenever a client registers for an event, thereby agreeing to receive future updates from the corporation. With social networks, however, it's up to you to recognize what a fake account looks like, and you have the option to block, ignore or move on, or in the case of 'X', regular bot-purges will occur, which generally result in your friend count going down. But if you're like me you worry less about collecting tens of thousands of friends. The higher the friend or follower account the higher potential to create more tedium.
During my last selling event, one reader dropped by my table to say hi, while I was engaged with another potential buyer. She spoke to my client to say, "I've bought all her books, and you won't be disappointed," to which the potential buyer acknowledged that she would swing by after she looked at every other table, and in the end she did come to purchase my newest novel, which put a smile on my face. After she walked away, my other reader and me were still chatting, and she passed on her review of my newest novel POM. I'm generally happy to receive honest feedback.
"Well," she began, "Initially I find high fantasy novels to be a little plodding in the beginning, because this is all part of the world-building process, and yours was too, a little plodding... know, however, that it wasn't boring, so I kept on reading and finished your huge book. I liked it!"
I thanked her for giving me feedback. She taught me something too, and this is always good: that while reading or engaging in an activity that begins as plodding, this doesn't necessarily mean it will remain a plodding task all throughout. Entering contacts into databases — yes these are tedious and boring. When it comes to a story of fantastical drama, on the contrary, it may initially come off as plodding but this is OK so long as it's not boring. Whew!
There is a difference between plodding and boring.
Yet, when it comes to our individual jobs, each of us would be able to highlight, specifically, the elements of our work that bore us to tears. For me, it's the mind-numbing inputting of new contacts and details into database systems, pertaining to corporations — this is as boring as it gets. I remember tracking and collecting business cards whenever I sold my novels at events, followed up by inputting these new contacts into a spreadsheet for those times when I'd be ready to blast out a message to readers, to pass on updates and the like, as well as to make announcements on upcoming events. Now all of this tedium has been replaced by social networks where the onus is put on us, as the author, to build a following, so we can bombard them with witty posts aka updates. Not for me, however. I admit to being negligent when it comes to building followings, and I'm still guilty to this day. For me, it has always been about laying down a new chapter.
To be a pimp, that is an author who promotes their work, after all the writing is done, is a form of hardship and feels like torture. I acknowledge, however, that it has to be done, despite knowing inwardly that it's as boring as all get out. What I've learned over the last two decades is that the point of boredom is to acknowledge your brain has a limit to just how much garbage it can and is willing to process. At one point, I had an email distribution list that numbered in the 600+ range, which doesn't seem like much when compared to social networks, but when issuing emails to hundreds of persons, and then reconciling bounce-backs, this took as much time if not more than compiling the distribution list in the first place.
You see how tedium works? The most tedious of tasks do not deliver a cherry on top of your work; they'll create a new layer of work, over top the existing, and then you're slowly dragged into the sewer along with the tedium.
And then Anti-Spam laws were introduced in Canada back in 2014, which doesn't seem like a long time ago, but 11 years is a long time when you consider the length of time that we've had social networks (roughly 27 years). Where the Anti-Spam law was put into place to curtail the flow of unsolicited commercial emails, this pails in comparison to the current variety of unwanted hits which come in the form of advertising, bots and fake friend requests that permeate every single social network. I never wanted to be a Spam girl, any more than I want to extend a phony friendship online thru my social networks. So, when I accept a new friend request, and the newest so-called friend slips into my DMs, seconds after I've accepted their request, I instantly hit the ignore button and reflect back on how unwanted emails used to drive me to distraction.
Tedium often results in one boring task becoming upgraded and replaced with an equally boring task. You can either press on, and push thru the boredom, or you can wait patiently for the boring task to change. Within corporations, top client lists will continue to be developed but these have become refined to include an 'opt-in' checkbox whenever a client registers for an event, thereby agreeing to receive future updates from the corporation. With social networks, however, it's up to you to recognize what a fake account looks like, and you have the option to block, ignore or move on, or in the case of 'X', regular bot-purges will occur, which generally result in your friend count going down. But if you're like me you worry less about collecting tens of thousands of friends. The higher the friend or follower account the higher potential to create more tedium.
During my last selling event, one reader dropped by my table to say hi, while I was engaged with another potential buyer. She spoke to my client to say, "I've bought all her books, and you won't be disappointed," to which the potential buyer acknowledged that she would swing by after she looked at every other table, and in the end she did come to purchase my newest novel, which put a smile on my face. After she walked away, my other reader and me were still chatting, and she passed on her review of my newest novel POM. I'm generally happy to receive honest feedback.
"Well," she began, "Initially I find high fantasy novels to be a little plodding in the beginning, because this is all part of the world-building process, and yours was too, a little plodding... know, however, that it wasn't boring, so I kept on reading and finished your huge book. I liked it!"
I thanked her for giving me feedback. She taught me something too, and this is always good: that while reading or engaging in an activity that begins as plodding, this doesn't necessarily mean it will remain a plodding task all throughout. Entering contacts into databases — yes these are tedious and boring. When it comes to a story of fantastical drama, on the contrary, it may initially come off as plodding but this is OK so long as it's not boring. Whew!
There is a difference between plodding and boring.
