It is a rainy Monday in January, and you are eager to get busy writing and publishing articles. You get up, take a fast shower, put on a pair of sweatpants and a T-shirt, fix a pot of coffee, and get yourself a bowl of cereal. While waiting for the coffee to finish percolating, you check the headlines. After seeing the day's headlines, you have some ideas for today's articles. You pick up the remote control and turn on the television. Instead of seeing your favorite show, however, you see a big blue box in the lower corner. The message in the box says that your service has been turned off and is telling you to contact your service provider. Oh, no!

Losing your cable or satellite service can be disappointing, especially if television is a big part of your life. You might have worked out while watching your favorite shows or used them to help you unwind after a long, stressful day. While this situation is frustrating and disappointing, it is not all bad, however.

For one thing, if you are not watching television, you will have time to read. You will be able to fix yourself a cup of coffee or hot cocoa, sit down with your hot beverage, and savor it while you enjoy a bestseller that everybody is talking about. If you have read the bestseller, you will be able to contribute when the book comes up in conversations with friends or family. If you are watching television and the book is sitting on your dresser, still unread, you will have nothing to say. Everybody else will have read this awesome book, they will know what it is about and how it ends, and you will be in the dark.

Second, if you write and publish articles online, not watching television will give you more time to work. You can replace thoughts of "I miss my TV!" with "Hmm...I wonder how much money I can make?" Then, instead of squeezing in articles around your television shows, you can write many more articles than you had been writing before.

Third, not watching television will allow you to get to bed earlier. Often, when people have television service, they stay up late, watching favorite shows that networks choose to air late at night. They enjoy watching the shows, but the next day they pay for it. They may get up later in the morning than they had planned. They are tired, and they cannot produce material as fast as they would like to. If they get to bed earlier, they can get up earlier. When they get up, they are rested and ready to get busy.

If you lose your television service, do not despair. Work hard, wait patiently, and save your money. You might be able to get it turned back on.