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| Zoe M. McCarthy |
ad·ver·si·ty
noun
difficulties;
misfortune
ORGIN: Middle English: from Old French adversite, from Latin adversitas, from advetere, ‘turn toward.’
Well,
huh. Who’d have thought adversity originally meant, “turn toward.” Most of us
writers want to turn away from losing 2000 manuscript words. To flee from submitting
a manuscript with the word just occurring
ten times in the first scene.
We’ve
heard our tribulations grow us. A great truth. Maybe creators of Latin thought
“turn toward” meant “to face your giants and grow.” So what was my recent Saturday
all about?
Adversity at the University
Saturday
morning, I settled into my writing space. The Internet was as slow as an editor
getting back to my agent about my manuscript. I’d accomplish little. And, I
forgot I’d promised to go with my husband to the Wake Forest basketball game,
to depart in two hours.
As
soon as my iPhone Personal Hotspot located service, I hoped I could work in the
car during breaks from reading a biography to John. During our two-hour trip, I
clung to a sole comfort. The vendors at the game sell the best Butter Pecan ice
cream around.
The
salad I consumed at lunch, made my stomach queasy. I spent much of the game in
a women’s restroom stall, beginning to believe the graffiti. Wishing I had an
out-of-order sign to hang on my end stall to keep it available, I ventured out
to the half-time crowd.
My
husband walked toward me. He thought I’d gotten lost. I confessed I’d gone up
the wrong ramp just before he found me. With a sympathetic look on his face, he
offered to stand in line and buy me ice cream. I imagined what one bite of
anything would do to my stomach, and I turned down BUTTER PECAN ICE CREAM!
True
story. With a bit of writers’ license concerning the graffiti. Had I
experienced a day of adversities? Difficulties? Misfortunes?
Facing Giants Instead of Demon Deacons
Sometimes
adversities call us to stand up to giants, as Joshua and Caleb did in Numbers
13, even though the Israelites refused to. But sometimes we create giants that
cause our suffering. Saturday, I generated giants.
- I work full days five days a week. I’d vowed weekends would be reserved for time with John. A slow Internet should’ve been a small deal on a Saturday.
- I enter everything into my weekly schedule. Everything. Why’d I fail to record the basketball game? Did I hope it’d go away? I created a giant that had nothing to do with adversity and much to do with my attitude and poor planning.
- Knowing I’d eat sugar-heavy ice cream at the game, ordering salad and water was a good idea. Queasiness was my only true adversity.
- I faced that queasy giant by turning down my favorite ice cream. On the way home, I felt good physically and learned a lesson about priorities and scheduling.
PS.
John made calls and took care of the slow Internet. Go John! Go Wake Forest!
What have you called adversity that was a
giant you created?
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| About the Author |
Zoe M. McCarthy
believes the little known fact that opposites distract. Thus, she spins
Christian contemporary romances entangling extreme opposites. Her tagline is:
Distraction to Attraction, Magnetic Romances Between Opposites. Now retired
actuaries, Zoe and her husband evaluated the financial risks for insurance
companies. Nick, in Zoe’s debut novel, Calculated
Risk, is an actuary. Christian Fiction Online Magazine published two of her
short stories. Zoe self-published two books of contemporary Christian short
stories. She’s a member of American Christian Fiction Writers. She enjoys
leading workshops at JoyWriters on the craft of writing; speaking about her
faith; planning fun events for her 5 grandchildren; and exploring the Blue
Ridge Mountains, where she lives with her husband, John.
Learn more about
Zoe M. McCarthy at her website: http://zoemmccarthy.com
Calculated Risk
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| Calculated Risk by Zoe M. McCarthy |
What happens when an analytical
numbers man meets a mercurial marketing Rep? Romance is a calculated risk…
Jilted by the latest of her
father’s choices of “real men,” Cisney Baldwin rashly accepts an invitation to
spend Thanksgiving weekend with a sympathetic colleague and his family. Nick
LeCrone is a man too much her opposite to interest her and too mild-mannered to
make her overbearing father’s “list.” Now, Cisney fears Nick wants to take
advantage of her vulnerable state over the holiday. Boy, is she wrong.
Nick wants little to do with
Cisney. She drives him crazy with all her sticky notes and quirks. He extended
an invitation because he felt sorry for her. Now he’s stuck, and to make
matters worse, his family thinks she’s his perfect match. He’ll do what he can
to keep his distance, but there’s just one problem—he’s starting to believe
Cisney’s magnetism is stronger than he can resist.
Purchase links for Calculated Risk: http://zoemmccarthy.com/books
