Monday, February 28, 2011

I request a Cone of Silence!

But please, not the discount model--I only want the government standard Cone that actually works.

I can see you now, scratching your head and wondering, "What is she on about?" After all, random Get Smart references seem a little out of place on a blog about writing and Jane Austen. Bear with me, it will all make sense in a minute.

Confession time: I am addicted to conversation. In college, I'd hang out in the lounge until everyone else had gone to bed, just chatting away. Dorm life killed my sleep schedule. After college, I discovered instant messaging, and I'd be on AIM or Yahoo for all hours of the night.

Now, it's Twitter. I open it up intending to just scan through my feed and post something about writing, and suddenly I'm in the middle of a conversation. I do manage to get to bed earlier than I did when I was younger, but not before I've killed my writing time for the evening.

So here's my plan: Every night at 8:00, the Cone of Silence will fall over me and my novel. I will not be able to "hear" Twitter, and (hopefully), Twitter will not hear from me. At 10:00, the Cone will be lifted back to the ceiling and communication will resume.

I need your help, friends. If I start talking to you between 8:00 and 10:00 Pacific time, tell me to get offline and back to my writing. I'll probably whine, but I'll do it.

Meanwhile, does anyone know how I hang up my shoe?