That's a question a lot of people have been asking me lately if I answer the phone when writing. And it made me wonder if I enter some sort of trance-like state as I try to yank the words out of my head.

I asked the DH and he refused to answer the question, claiming that there is no good way to respond--and he doesn't want any trouble. Especially right before the weekend. Smart man.

But then, I do sometimes miss the doorbell, the kettle boiling or the phone ringing when I'm FOCUSED. Yes, the caps are necessary. It could be that it takes me so long to get into that space where words flow freely and ideas don't seem butt-ugly stupid that I try to ignore the rest of the universe so I can stay there as long as possible.

Which is one of the reasons why I have been trying to stay offline for as much as possible lately. Truth is, I really miss the meandering around the Internet but I was able to get another 20 pages done today. It must be working. Of course, we'll see if any of these pages survive the next round, but at least I feel accomplished for today.

I still have a long way to go and there is no possible way I will make my initial deadline of Sunday. March 1 may work, so I'm keeping that date circled on the calendar.

Things have been quite busy and sort of cranky as some juggling of due dates and revisions have basically resulted in everything I'm working on being due over the next two weeks. Which happens to be the same time that I'm working the RIP.

I think it's the fates testing me to see if I'll be able to prioritize my time well enough to get the job done. The stuff for other people is very easy for me to accomplish; it's the stuff for me that always gets shoved back in the corner with the jeans that don't really fit anymore.

I've been talking about working on this book for so long, I'm really looking forward to the long drawn-out posts about queries, negotiations and the gazillion rounds of edits. Yep, that's me, always thinking positive. ;)

And when things seem totally impossible, I just look at this photo: