When You Can't Catch A Break

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Some days I wonder what dark cloud hovers over my family, making sure we don't get a break in the ongoing saga of raising grandchildren. Seriously, since late August, we can't seem to catch a break.

First Amari got sick the first week of school. Then I caught it and struggled for two weeks to silence my coughing in order to say more than two words before hacking up a lung. Then, some weird stomach thing hit me. It lasted two weeks, and the doctor decided to check for gall bladder issues. Luckily, all is normal there, but we still don't have answers to the stomach "thing." Then last week, Amari started coughing again. And, of course...guess who's congested and feeling yucky? Yep. Me.

Woohoo.

Seriously. It's October. We've had someone ill since late August. We have a family wedding coming up in Rhode Island. We don't need this.

What does this have to do with writing, you ask? Well, for a story to be interesting, things need to happen. There can be lulls, but stories become boring if the lulls last too long. Your readers either quit reading or wait for the other shoe to drop. They want the shoe, in case you didn't know.

In real life, I'd rather not have the shoe, but readers want something that amps up the tension. FYI, it's not continuous illness. That can get boring fast. Take it from me. I've run out of things I can watch on TV because I'm too wiped out to do much of anything around the house. Definitely not exciting.

The key is to replace the events in my second paragraph of this post with conflict events that create tension.

For now, I'll let you ponder that. Hopefully by the time my next blog is due, I'll be well again.

Comments

Valerie said…
I hope you all return to health quickly and STAY THERE!
October 3, 2017 at 3:47 PM
Barbara V. Evers said…
Me too. This is not exciting at all!
October 3, 2017 at 5:11 PM
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