I’m an introvert, and among other things, that means I benefit from several of the American Introvert’s Association’s widely publicized membership perks.

For instance, I just paid my phone bill. For the entire year. I have one of those little pre-paid numbers, and I never run out of minutes. Just service days. And data. I wind up paying about ten bucks a month, and less, if I were willing to give up the data.

I use the money I save to buy headphones and earplugs to use in the workplace break room. It keeps all the random sports celebrations and potty-training stories on their own side of the skull. And allows me to work, or at least stare dejectedly at my revision project for an hour.

When I’m lucky.

There’s something particularly motivating about work in a break room at a job that you’re hoping to replace. Something that keeps you moving forward.

I’m doing my cutting at home, and the revision of my latest chapter at work. The cutting is moving faster. Got about a hundred pages into chronological order, yesterday. And some rearranging of that one chapter at lunch.

There are issues, of course. Cat eats the headphone wire, and leaves me in silence. One of my co-workers has a new year’s resolution to work on her own book. (I am working on believing this will actually happen. I am an optimistic introvert.) Obviously, I must talk to her. And that means taking the ear plugs out…

And there goes my lunch hour.