One Ringy Dingy

By Lori

The number one distraction in my house is the telephone. Even when I don't answer it--that incessant ringing! Turning my ringer off is such a chore, having to hunt up all the stray handsets etc. And even then, I haven't figured out how to do more than turn them down.

My answer is to head to the library and write there. Of course, then you have the distraction of all those BOOKS! I just have to check out what's new, and then, well, read those. . . .

So then I try getting up at five a.m., before the phone stirs in its cradle, and I write in the dark, in my living room with hot tea beside me. This is actually my favorite time to work.

But then I get hooked on a show like Dancing with the Stars, or Project Runway, or some such other diversion that keeps me up late and unable to make my wake up call.

So I get up. I get my kids off to school. And then, if I'm not working that day, I sit down to write, dreading the impending ring of the phone. I check my email and some blogs because it's late enough that people will have posted new things. And the phone is going to ring any second anyway.

And then it happens. The phone does ring, and I remember that it could actually be an editor. Trying to contact me. And I think maybe I shouldn't dislike my phone so much. Because one of the reasons I do this is the flickering hope that maybe one day I will get THAT call. Which won't be even a little bit annoying.

In fact, it would be music to my ears. :o)