I’ll be lying low…or maybe even laying low…until this round of edits is done. And, in trying to snap together two pieces of Take-Along Thomas the Tank Engine track for the short kid, my hand slipped, and I whacked the edge of the station’s roof. I now have a bandaid on three of the five fingers of my right hand. And I can’t bend the ring finger. Makes typing a joy.

In the meantime…one of my favorite sneaky writing tips:

In the afternoon, the boys head outside. I drag Alphie or a printed copy for editing out onto the porch. It’s several hours of housework guilt-free writing. But the sight of me sitting and happily typing away seems to attract every neighbor within a 2-mile radius.

The answer: headphones.

I don’t listen to music while the boys are playing. I like to be able to hear those whispers of “Why don’t you climb the lilac tree to rescue that kitty, and I’ll catch you if you fall?” (Scarily, those words are usually uttered by the short kid to the tall kid.)

So anyway, I plug my headphones into my…portable CD player, (are they still called Walkmans?) and I just don’t turn it on. People who yell out to me or stop to chat while I’m obviously working are totally kept at bay by the headphones.

Hey, whatever works, right?