I’m sitting in the ER writing this blog post. My special needs adult daughter, Anna, needed to get checked to see if she had a resistant UTI. I grabbed a notebook on the way out knowing we would be there for a while. It’s an ER, after all! And since I’m leaving to teach at Montrose in 2 days, I wanted to get my blog post written and submitted.

This is not the first time I’ve written in the ER or hospital room. It’s not even the 2nd or 3rd time. Going to the ER today didn’t even enter my mind. It sure wasn’t on my TO DO list. My bestie, Kim Sponaugle (illustrator), and I are leading a Work-In-Progress clinic for picture books. I’ve been prepping and looking forward to going. Montrose is one of my favorite conferences.

As we drove, I wondered if I’d be able to go. Who knew what they would find with Anna? Nothing is simple with her.

We got there, the waiting room was EMPTY, and we got taken right back. Then started all the tests. I wrote this blog post while she was having a Cat Scan (my hubby was with her).

Three hours later, everything was clear and we were on our way to get cheeseburgers and fries for lunch (Anna’s favorite). 

Whew! Praise the Lord! I can now go to Montrose without worrying there was something really wrong with my girl.

What’s the point of telling you all this?

Three things:

1. You can write anywhere.
2. Be flexible
3. God’s timing is perfect.

Always have a notebook and pen with you. We aren’t used to writing in longhand much anymore, but it’s better than not being able to write something down when you get an idea. This makes you flexible. And sitting and writing slowly kinda makes you think about time. It’s a good opportunity to remember who is in control of our time!

How is sitting in the ER like plotting a story?

Okay, stay with me on this. Haha!

What does a story need? 

1. A Plot (including plot twists)
2. Characters
3. An Arc
4. Emotions
5. An ending
6. Submission (and all that waiting)

PLOT

A plot has different parts. An ER has different parts: staff, doctors, nurses, technicians, and all the tests. Like plotting a story, how do all these things fit together?

The plot twist is like test results. The results will tell you what direction to go.

CHARACTERS

There are many kinds of people in the ER with different personalities and jobs. And just like story characters, we can see them in three groups: Walk on, Secondary, and Main.

Walk on: registration. You see them once and that’s it.

Secondary: technicians (EKG, Cat scan, Xray, etc) and nurses (starting the IV, getting vitals, they are always in and out)

Main: the patient and the doctors.

ALL THE FEELS

We need emotion in our stories. There’s a lot of emotion in the ER.

1. Anxiety/stress
2. Frustration
3. Pain
4. Anticipation
5. Fear
6. Trust
7. Relief or Grief

There are even spots of humor, depending on what’s happening. We’ve had many times over the years of ER runs and hospital stays where something happens that made us laugh. That has saved our sanity! Of course, it all depends on the outcome. Some stories are tragedies. Some are not.

THE ENDING

How do you end your story?

How do you get out of the ER?

Well, that all depends on test results. Sometimes, test results are good, and you get to go home. Anna got to come home today. It’s not the end of her story as she needs to follow up with her neurologist.

When there’s more to be told, you enter a sequel or series!

SUBMITTING

Yeah. Submissions. We submit and then WAIT.  And, man, can you ever wait in an ER.

IN CONCLUSION

I’d love to tell you I got an idea for a new story while in the ER today, but I didn’t. What I got is what you just read.

God doesn’t waste anything!

Pam Halter is a former home-schooling mom, has been a children’s book author since 1995, a freelance children’s book editor since 2006, and was the children’s book editor for Fruitbearer Publishing until January 2023. She’s the author of Fairyeater, a YA fantasy, and the Willoughby and Friends picture book series (available on her website.) Pam has also published short stories in Ye Olde Dragon Books , the Whitstead Anthologies and Renewed Christmas Blessings. Her first short story won Readers Choice in Realmscapes.  

Pam lives in Southern New Jersey with her husband, Daryl, special needs adult daughter, Anna, and four cats. When she’s not writing, Pam enjoys spending time with her grands, reading, quilting, gardening, cooking, playing the piano, Bible study, and walking long country roads where she discovers fairy homes, emerging dragons, and trees eating wood gnomes.