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I Wish I knew How to Quit You by Shana Galen


I love how the internet makes my life easier. I can buy groceries, renew prescriptions, order Christmas presents, and research Légion Noir without ever leaving my comfy chair.

But the internet has its drawback too. These are the website I try to stay away from and just can’t seem to quit.

The #1 Offender
Zulily.com



Have you been to Zulily? If you have a young daughter or granddaughter, I’m willing to be you have. Zulily makes a deal with boutique-type shops (and some larger ones too) and offers their merchandise at a big discount. The sales only go for 72-hours, and they have new events every day. If you don’t check out the deals when the events go live, you can bet the best stuff in the popular sizes will be gone. Not only do I love the Zulily website, I love the app. That’s right. I don’t even have to get on my computer to see the events, and Zulily is so nice, it sends me a reminder when the new events for the day go live. Help!

Others Culprits
Etsy.com is another addiction. I cannot believe how talented some of these sellers are. They make the cutest things, and they don’t charge much. For someone like me, who is craft-challenged, this place is wonderland.



Finally, when it comes to shopping, believe it or not but Groupon is another one that sucks me in (and another site with an app and a notification service). It seems there’s always a deal for the restaurant I want to try or a massage I need—even toys, artwork, and museum tickets! The one-click buying is super dangerous. If you don’t know Groupon, stay away!

Time Sucks
And then there are the sites that you click on and they transport you to a place beyond the space-time continuum. Time passes and you don’t even know it. One of these is crappypictures.com. This is a funny site where mom Amber Dusick draws—you guess it—crappy pictures about her mostly hilarious adventures as a mom of two young boys. She has a book coming out in March.

If you, like me, are a fan of Kate Middleton, you might be wise to avoid the plethora of blogs dedicated to sharing tidbits about her daily life. Two of my favorites are katemiddletonstyle.org, which not only discusses Kate’s wardrobe, but gives the reader links to ‘Shop Kate’s Wardrobe.’ Another blog I enjoy is hrhduchesskate.blogspot.com. This site often features tidbits by regular people who happen across Kate at a petrol (i.e. gas) station or while out shopping at Boots in London. It’s kind of fun to read regular people’s impressions of the duchess, which are almost always gushing.



So tell me your addictions and the websites you just can’t quit. One reader who comments will receive a necklace of the cover of If You Give a Rake a Ruby, which I ordered off Etsy.com!


Comments

  1. Hey, Shana, congrats on all your wonderful books! I'm addicted to books....either writing or reading them!

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  2. Terry, Amazon is a dangerous website for me, too. It's so easy to order!

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  3. Addictions? Oh where to begin. Amazon...don't you love that instant order button.
    The refrigerator...staring at what I can't have, shouldn't have or will have, be damned to the calories and fat grams.
    Reading reviews...I'm thinking of joining an RRA (Reading Reviews Anonymous) group. "Hello. My name is Carolyn Brown. I waste precious time reading nasty reviews instead of writing my next book."
    Those are the top three but believe me I have an addictive personality...and I'm jealous that you came up with this wonderful idea because I have a post coming up later in the month and don't have a single idea! LOL

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  4. The book Depository for me. And reading blogs too... :)

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  5. Oh dear, Shana. Websites I just can't quit: Regretsy, eBay, Amazon, Drive We Said, salon.com, Cute Overload, Dlisted, Awkward Family Photos, I Can Haz Cheeseburger, Tom and Lorenzo and Jezebel. Then add on a couple of writing blogs, such as Smart Bitches, and the one I belong to, The Ruby Slippered Sisterhood! Needless to say, all this surfing gets done in quick hits between day job meetings. (Viva telecommuting!)

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  6. My addictions:
    Facebook - I'm not ordering anything, but I waste a LOT of time there.

    I love Zulily, too - the only saving grace for me is that they don't sell ANYTHING big enough to fit me and the boys' clothes stop at about a 7/8, so too small for Little Man too. The toys, however, are often *perfect* for a deaf-blind child, so I can get drawn in very easily!

    I love Woot.com - the t-shirts are hilarious, but woot.tech tends to get my attention. I just bought a *good* studio microphone and software to go with it for under $40.

    Amazon is the kiss of death for me... I have more books on my Kindle! Of course, I also order dog food from them, unsweetened ice tea mix (so I can add Stevia - Himself wants to get me away from aspartame), makeup, and just about anything else that catches my eye. I'm so acquisitive. :(

    Ebay. 'Nuff said, probably! I just ordered 1/4lb of t-pins for attaching my wigs to wig stands so I can style them properly... and I'm looking at wigs on there even though I *know* they're not going to be very nice. Plus, you can get the neatest gadgets on Ebay. We just got a powered 6-port USB hub so I can plug in and charge my gazillion devices.

    Tigerdirect.com - brings out my geek lust in a Very Bad Way. If I don't watch myself very carefully I will seriously wind up with three top of the line gamer desktops to build. Yes, I like building desktops.

    Spotify - not a website, it's an app and if you join their premium thing (I haven't - I'm a cheapskate) it can be an app on your phone too. My addiction to a rather eclectic selection of music is really made clear by my *two day long* Writing playlist - and I've excluded the mellow music because I don't write to it!

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  7. Sites I can't leave? Ummm, Facebook, Amazon (Kindle stuff mostly) and Google Reader with all my blog links on it. Heh.

    Loved Ruby, btw. Fabulous book.

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  8. I have to say Facebook and blogs and computer games suck my time away lol. My daughter knows Etsy well since she is in the arts and likes to support fellow artists. Our family has gotten a lot of unique gifts that way.

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  9. I love advice columns. I'm not sure why - vicarious pleasure in other peoples' misfortunes? That doesn't sound very nice--but it's fun. My favorite is Dear Prudence, on Slate.

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  10. Carolyn, I feel your pain. I don't read reviews--probably because I'm too busy spending time on Zulily. I also spend a lot of time pondering the contents of my refrigerator. I find it's a good way to avoid writing (and reading reviews and looking at Zulily).

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  11. May, I love the Book Depository. What did I do before I knew about it?

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  12. Tamara, I haven't heard of all of these, and I am tempted to check them out, but I don't need any more addictions. So maybe I'll just look up a few...

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  13. Robitille, I see you understand where I'm coming from. I could definitely add a few from your list to mine!

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  14. Thanks, Tory. Yes, facebook is so much a part of life now that I don't even realize it's an addiction.

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  15. Catslady, it is true that Etsy does have really original, cute stuff. And I need all of it!

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  16. Joanne, it it always interesting to read those columns. Who writes in about these things? Do they really wait weeks and weeks to have their questions answered? What if they aren't chosen? Do they figure out another solution? It worries me.

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  17. I'd love to say I'm not addicted to any website, but...I'll tell the truth instead and say you have a fabululous cover! Hats off to Sourcebooks art department!
    Amelia

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  18. Cracked.com. I can spend hours on there and constantly have to ground myself from that site.

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  19. Addictions that use up my time online, are ebay, etsy, Amazon, Youtube, and Hulu.

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  20. Amazon

    bn100candg(at)hotmail(Dot)com

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  21. Zulily! I recently discovered this web site, much to the chagrin of my husband. But I keep telling him what amazing deals I can find on these adorable clothse for my little girl! It is endless, the dresses and cute shoes. And when I can get them for the price I can find at Target and they are more unique... I. Can't. Stop.
    Dangerous, very dangerous.
    I should have skipped this post, now I have to go check out your Kate websites!

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  22. Between all of the great blogs and the loops that I am on that crowd my e-mailbox, I hardly have time to do other things. Then there are all of the fun contests which take up time, especially if they are blog hops. I can't imagine how other people keep up with the social media sites as well. I don't FB or Tweet so that at least keeps me from being online 24/7!
    And now that you've tempted me with the craft sites, I undoubtedly will spend more time on those than I should!


    elewkf1 at yahoo dot com

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  23. Congrats on the new release!

    There are so many addictive sites. I could be on Amazon and Facebook for hours. I also find myself clicking over to travel sites and checking out the lovely pictures of far away lands. Oh, do we dare to dream?

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  24. Thanks, Amelia. I was pretty happy with it!

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  25. Brooklyn Ann, now I want to check it out.

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  26. Lil, Ebay is an on and off addiction for me. If I'm looking for something, I'm on it all the time.

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  27. Lexi, Zulily is like crack or something. The prices are really so good and the clothes are so cute!

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  28. Elf2060, I often wonder how readers manage to find so much time to comment on all the blogs and do blog hops etc. I guess they're not spending as much time on Etsy and Zulily as I am!

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  29. Crack, yes it is. I guess all I can say is that we must have two of the best dressed little girls out there for all the time we spend on Zulily.

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  30. For me, it is facebook, Amazon and blogs. I love them. I love the cover to your new book.

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  31. I tend to be intense and eclectic with my addictions. *snort* I should start with my base addictions of reading and equally my desktop computer. From there I can open whole worlds and pass multiple hours without realizing it (so bad).

    My addictive websites are very similar to others that have been listed here.

    I'm addicted to movies as well (Netflix disc at the moment until I can get big flat HD TV). I foresee pure disaster here since I will be able to watch as many movies in a row as I desire.

    I'm addicted to certain TV shows, which I will record if I can't see them in real time. Gotta love that instant record button that comes with my TV/Internet/Phone service.

    So far, I've only read one of your books, Lord and Lady Spy and enjoyed it very much. I want to read more and will in time but you know that reading addiction I mentioned...well, it means I have lots of favorite authors and new to me authors that I read and it's almost impossible to keep current (did I mention those 300+ print back-up books I keep on a TBR shelf just so I never run out?) Yes, I can spell addictive;)

    I'm glad for the many choices in authors and romance genres (I read also all genres) and so my addiction demands I never stop buying books and also demands I keep a 32 page TBB list that I constantly add and subtract from but but I do eventually get to everything there...it's an on-going process.

    Before I get too much older, I need to get a handle on my addiction because I don't want to die before getting to read all the books I have. WORD.



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  32. FB is a big time suck for me! Also, not a website but spider solitaire is my addiction. Hours pass so easy!! Thanks for the giveaway.

    mlawson17 at hotmail dot com

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  33. Tumblr. I get sucked into everyone's claver tumblrs! I don't have one, I just, you, stalk ;-)

    justforswag(AT)yahoo(DOT)com

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