Last week, I did something incredibly stupid.
On the phone with my mother-in-law, I said, “Can you believe the children haven’t been sick for six months?” And then I proceeded to go on and on about it. Maybe it’s the vitamins, maybe it’s so much fresh air, maybe I should’ve just shut up.
Even as I was saying it, I recognized that if I were reading the conversation in a book, it’d be a prime example of foreshadowing.
Somewhere a virus was cackling with glee, plotting our home on its map of malaise.
Sure enough, my boy started coughing in the middle of the night two days later. This morning, my girl opened her bleary eyes and muttered, “My throat hurts!” I’m sure in a few hours, he’ll tell me about his sore throat and she’ll start coughing. They love to share. Isn’t that cute?
This reminds me of a column by fellow writer and agency sister Loree Huebner, who wrote this post about writers over thinking their craft.
Perhaps I take writing too seriously when I notice foreshadowing in real life. Fellow writers, am I alone in this?
Have you ever seen something in real life unfold and think it’d make an unbelievable story? Do you hear “dun-dun-DUN!” in your head when someone does something evil?
Am I asking too many questions this early in the morning?
You’ll have to excuse me. My head hurts and my throat tickles. *cough, cough*