And that is how you do THAT!

This morning, I had a phone interview scheduled with a scriptwriter, for the Revisions book. This particular person is one VERY busy person, involved in some major Hollywood projects and a scriptwriting mentoring service. I've tried to get this interview for months and then he finally said " a phone interview will work best." Given my last success in handling a phone interview, I wasn't worried there'd be problems in using relay to do the interview with. What I was worried about is making sure my toddler was supervised.

My son is nearly 3 years old, and tends to get into EVERYTHING. Because my husband works the night shift, he sleeps in late (though last night, he stayed on the computer until 4:00 in the morning, a half hour before I got out of bed, so that probably adds to why he sleeps in so late). And my daughter is not exactly a morning person, either. So I tried to schedule the interview as late as I could, but it seemed like the best time available was 9ish in the mornings. So I scheduled a 9:30 interview and practically begged my daughter to watch her brother so that I could do this interview. (After all, I went all those months trying to get the interview -- couldn't lose out on this chance now!) I agreed to pay her $5 for the job.

Then today came, and I could NOT get my daughter out of bed. Even though she'd gone to bed last night earlier than usual, she just wasn't getting up this morning. The interview had been moved to 9, instead of 9:30, so I kept trying to get her up. But she wouldn't get up. So I tried rescheduling the interview, but, no luck. My source had to leave town this weekend. Sigh! So I just bit my lip and decided to go through with it, sans babysitter. I will survive! I'm used to jumping out of my chair a lot, anyway. (See, that's how we writers get our exercise. Heh.)

The phone interview started and, when my source was talking and talking, I used those moments to jump up and check on the baby. Miraculously, he stayed out of trouble, opting to play with his sister's rubber ball and net. I encouraged him to keep playing in between reading and typing for the interview. It was hard to concentrate, though, since I was so distracted, and I had to keep rereading things and second-guessing my questions before asking them, to see if they were good questions and something that would be helpful to the reader. Something a reader might ask. I also kept forgetting a couple of questions and had to stop reading answers to try to remember them. (Thankfully, I did.)

I did have to jump out of my chair a couple of times when the baby was not in sight, only to find him playing in his room. At least he did indeed stay out of trouble -- for once!

In the end, we all managed okay. And, actually, the baby ended up falling asleep on the little couch we have set up in front of the TV, drifting off while he'd been watching Little Bear. (Thank goodness for Little Bear!)

After the 45-minute interview, I did a little happy dance and said a quiet prayer of thanks that all went well. Too bad my daughter missed out on a chance to earn a little extra money, but I'm glad for this experience. Because now I know that I no longer need to rely on someone to keep an eye on the baby for me during a phone interview. Now I know that I'll be able to manage that kind of situation okay, with or without a babysitter!