What happened between my teenage years and now? At 16, I had
my own phone line with my very own number put in my room. At 19, I was dating
someone who lived a few hours away, and we’d wait until 11 p.m. – when rates
went down – to talk on the phone. In my early 20s, I lived a few states away
doing an internship at a newspaper and my phone bill for those summer months?
Astronomical!
Now? Hell no, I won’t talk!
The anti-social stance came somewhere after having my first
child. It’s extremely difficult to be on the phone when you have little ones
crying in the background. It doesn’t matter how independent they seem, the
minute you get on the phone, some sort of crisis will take place. Absolute
chaos erupts. It would be at that moment when she’d decide to do something like
climb the piano or dive off the back of the sofa.
And then came not just writing but publication. Suddenly
with two children, my time alone, focused, creative & alert, became even more precious. It’s a diamond, oil, champagne and caviar all rolled up into
scarce precious hours.
Sigh. The phone rings, breaking any train of thought, eating
up time and sometimes it’s absolutely impossible to get back.
Now, that doesn’t mean that I don’t want to talk to my husband
or my dad, or a single friend off work from their one job, or a student who
didn’t read the question asked me and is freaking out about my answer, or work
who could wait until the next day in the office to ask me whatever
not-important question just surfaced.
Most of the time, that annoying ringing signifies a recorded
politician who wants me to vote for something, or a home improvement company we
requested to take us off the list 500 hundred-billion times! *Grrr*
People say that we’ve lost that personal connection with
email and social media. But I’d much rather send a two-sentence message than
spend 20 minutes on the phone rehashing the same thing.
I’ve morphed into the Grinch-Oscar all-tumbled into one:
Don’t Call Me – Maybe. Unless, it’s really, really good and you know I made my
upcoming book deadline!
Now back to working on book 4 of The Vampire, The Witch
& The Werewolf series, titled, The Wolfe Pack.
How about you? Are you a social, talking, butterfly?
