Egg On The Floor and More

My morning did not start out too well. My husband, Ken, was getting ready to play golf and had eaten early. I decided I'd like a fried egg and toast for my breakfast. I used a small fry pan for the one egg and it turned out perfectly, no broken yolk Instead of using a pancake turner to lift the egg onto a plate, I decided to just flip it out of the pan.

The plate was near the edge of the counter so it was a short move from stovetop to the plate. I turned the pan upside down and the egg slid neatly out of the pan but missed the plate. Actually, it hit the edge of the plate, then the counter and plopped onto the floor right in front of my feet. Egg yolk had dripped down the cabinet as the egg made its way to the floor.

There I stood, pan in hand and muttering a few choice words which I shall not repeat here. Bless Ken, for he came to the rescue. After my hip replacement earlier this summer, cleaning up messes on the floor is not in my bag of tricks. I wiped the egg yolk off the cabinet door while Ken scooped up the egg and washed the floor. It will be a long time before I forget this small disaster.

In the overall scheme of things, what happened really is a small problem but at the time, it seemed gargantuan. Even now, a few hours later, it still looms large.

It's the same when we have a disaster in our writing life. What if you lost several chapters of a book you're writing? Sometimes, computers tend to devour things we thought were saved. Or, what if a submission you made was rejected when you were absolutely certain it would be accepted? How about reaching the halfway mark of a big writing project and you are stuck? Stuck like your feet were mired in mud with no way to raise either of them and make your way to a dry area. (That happened to a friend just recently.)

There are eventual solutions to all those problems but my point today is that, as the poster above tells us, nothing in a writer's life is wasted. My fried egg event could be used in a short story someday. Losing all those chapters to a hungry computer can certainly be part of a character's life in your novel.

If you're ever in an auto accident, you remember it well and can eventually use what happened in a story. What about the poor people in the Carolinas who have been inundated with flood waters from Hurricane Florence? A writer could put that experience to good use.

When a minor or major disaster occurs, make a few notes afterward and pluck one of those happenings to slip into your stories. Yep, nothing in a writer's life is wasted. Except maybe my egg that landed on the floor!