My cat is old now and after his breakfast and a bit of play time, I can count on him to settle down in his basket by the window. But then, after a while, he wakes up and seeks me out to demand petting time. I’ve learned that, writing or not, I may as well give in. He will win. He always wins. He has his ways–persistence, pestering, entitlement, confidence, or simple obstruction. He’s predictable in his habits (aren’t we all) and I’ve learned from experience that the interruption will only last for 20 minutes or so. Still, it’s hard to regain momentum, to recapture where I was in my writing when I was forced to leave off. Life is full of such challenges. That will never change. It’s up to us writers to figure out how to deal with them.