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Lori Duffy Foster

... write to think; think to write.

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Verizon and the secret phone number.
Mon, 12 Jul 2010
We moved recently and my husband is working from home.
He needs a second phone line since he is telecomuting, so I ordered one along with another jack.
Unfortunately, Verizon, the only phone company in this area, arranged an entirely different installation date for the second line and neglected to tell us.
Here is my conversation with the customer service representative.
This begins after I was informed that the line will be installed the following week.
I had just one more question.
A simple one, I thought:

(Please note that I did not record this conversation. I had no reason to believe it would be worth relaying, so I didn't take notes either. In other words, I have paraphrased to the best of my recollection. But my recollection is pretty good. This, I could never forget.)

Me: So what is the number for the second line?
Rep: I can't tell you that. It's unlisted.
Me: But I ordered it.
Rep: Sorry. I still can't tell you. It's unlisted.
Me: Oh, so I'll find out when it's installed?
Rep: No. We can't tell you what the number is. It's unlisted.
Me: That makes no sense! I ordered the line. How do I find out what the number is?
Rep: You can make a call to another phone and find out from the caller ID.
Me (pausing, thinking about the probability that if the number is unlisted, it won't show up on caller ID): Can I request a specific number?
Rep: Oh yes. You can do that.
Me: And then I'll know what the number is?
Rep: Yes, then you will know what the number is.
Me: Okay then, how about 814-555-1212 (Note: the number has been changed to a fictional number to protect my husband's productivity.)
Rep: It looks like that's available.
Me: Then our second line will be 814-555-1212?
Rep: Well, we can't guarantee it, but since it's available, I'm pretty certain you'll get it.
Me: Okay then.
Rep: Is there anything else I can help you with.
Me: I really don't think so.

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Quotes

"In the same way that a woman becomes a prostitute. First I did it to please myself, then I did it to please my friends, and finally I did it for money."

--Ferenc Molnar ...after asked about how he became a writer

There is more pleasure to building castles in the air than on the ground.

--Edward Gibbon

No one is able to enjoy such feast than the one who throws a party in his own mind

--Selma Lagerlöf

A person who publishes a book appears willfully in public eye with his pants down.

--Edna St. Vincent Millay

"If you're a freelance writer and aren't used to being ignored, neglected, and generally given short shrift, you must not have been in the business very long."

--Poppy Z. Brite

"I am irritated by my own writing. I am like a violinist whose ear is true, but whose fingers refuse to reproduce precisely the sound he hears within. "

--Gustave Flaubert

Most writers can write books faster than publishers can write checks.

--Richard Curtis

Writing counts.

--Allyson Di

Who am I?

About Lori Duffy Foster

I was born and raised in the Adirondack Mountains of New York State, which is the setting of my first novel, Spring Melt. I am sister to seven siblings. I am a graduate of SUNY-Oswego (BA) and of Binghamton University (MA). For 11 years, I wrote about everything--crime, education, politics, the military, running, Native American affairs--for The (Syracuse, N.Y.) Post-Standard. That's where I met my awesome husband, Tom.
When I became a mother, I gave up my full-time career to be home with our kids. I have taught college English as an adjunct; worked as a technical writer; freelanced as a writer and editor; and started up my own Web-based business. In my spare time, I wrote a novel that is seeking a publisher. I have started a second novel and I am working on a nonfiction book.
I am a writer, but I refuse to call myself an author until at least one of those books sees print (at someone else's expense).
I have lived all over the country--in New York State, Florida, Arizona and, currently, in Cincinnati, Ohio.  And my hope is that one of these days, my husband and I will be able to take our kids around the country and throughout the world.