Embarassing moments keep readers engaged

How many of you have had embarassing moments? I've had my share and more.

In my estimation, they fall into a couple of categories:

Verbal gaffes - for example, calling someone the wrong name, letting a secret slip to the wrong person, or saying something uncomplimentary about someone who overhears the remark.

Ditzy mistakes - putting the cereal box in the refrigerator, forgetting to seal the envelopes of your bills, dialing the wrong phone number twice in a row, tucking your skirt in your underpants in a public place after using the restroom, gapping button or zipper, or searching for an item that's in plain sight on your body.

Messes involving body fluids or body noises - getting dog pooh on the shoe and tracking it all over someone's house/rug/floor, not making it to the bathroom on time for an urgent matter, or talking fast and spit flying out of your mouth onto someone else.

Everyone has a reaction to embarassing moments. The culprit is embarassed, naturally, but onlookers might be horrified, amused, sympathetic, annoyed, or somewhere in between.

Characters that display oddities are memorable and add zest. In my Cleopatra Jones series, Mama is known for her culinary disasters, such as spicklefish lasagne (lasagne made with spinach, pickles and sardines). Mama's a secondary character in that series, but don't tell her.

In Death, Island Style, my main character has several crafting disasters. MaryBeth's craft class turns into a free-for-all and she ends up with glue globs in her hair. Later, she collects seashells that have hermit crabs in them and thinks, because of the bad odor, that there's a body in her shop.

In Murder in the Buff, ultra-conservative reporter Molly must go to a nudist colony to pick something up for her boss. She darn near has heart palpitations, giving readers chuckles about her dilemma and mortification.

Want to share your embarassing moment? I'd love to hear from you!

Maggie Toussaint
Coming this year: Hot Water and Dime If I Know
www.maggietoussaint.com

Sitting on eggs - hatching creativity

"Sits on eggs" was the crossword puzzle clue.

The space was too long for hens, too short for chickens. My brain chugged to a start, trying to figure out what would fit. Crosswords are often humbling for my poor brain. The foreign words are challenges; the literary references are above my pedestrian taste.


But I'm an author, I say to myself. Surely, I can come up with a word that means sits on eggs.

But what?

I tapped my pen on the newspaper, hoping for inspiration, lightning, or both.

A moment later, it came to me: broods.

I hadn't thought about brooding as sitting on eggs since I was a kid. As an author, I tend to brood more about the amount of promotion I can't get to, about the reviews I need to garner, about the manuscript I hope to get contracted, and more.

That got me to thinking. If brooding is sitting on eggs, that's definitely waiting, but it's a creative/fertile waiting because something new and good is going to hatch from it.

Like keeping the home fires burning, brooding for writers is more productive when you focus your energies on "eggs" within your reach.

Can you control how many people review your book? No.

Can you control what the reviews say or how many stars there are? No.

Can you control if an editor will contract your book? No.

Can you control how well edited your submission is? Yes.

Can you control your weekly word count? Yes.

I discovered that I tend to brood about tasks/chores I'm not fond of. "Ugh, I've got to weed my flower beds," I'll think - for days - before I finally stir myself to doing it. Another source of my brooding, "What will I cook for dinner?" When we're on diets, I go to the diet book and fix what it says. And because we're being strict about the diet, all of the ingredients will be on hand. Normally I grocery shop by the seat of my pants; that's how I cook too, and in a hurry. It's never great, but it's decent and digestible.

No point in brooding about either of these jobs. They have to be done. And pretty routinely or there are negative consequences.

Dang! What else have I been wasting energy on? I can do better! I need to nurture those eggs!

What about you? Is there something you brood about that isn't productive? Can you rephrase your thoughts about it and move forward?

Maggie Toussaint
www.maggietoussaint.com

In For A Penny, now on Kindle:

www.amazon.com/InForAPenny-ebook/dp/B008MCSGMM

Murder in the Buff, Ariana finalist
Death, Island Style - at your library!