I actually wrote that in my friend’s yearbook. She repeatedly asked me what it meant, and I told her, “nothing.” It does actually mean something, but I had trouble spitting the words out. I thought of all the times in my life that I had to eat something (like liver, yuck!) or I would get in trouble.
Or symbolically, when I was at a job and the boss asked for something I didn’t want to do–like mopping the entire walk-in fridge where the seafood was kept (yes I actually had to do that)–I would have to “eat my eggshells” or I wouldn’t get paid.
Then there is the walk-on-eggshells-strut. Don’t get that person upset or they will hurt/kill/main/insult you. Is it better to hold in the words and not have them freak out, or just let it all rip, and take the consequences? Every situation is different. We have to decide.
Dessert: And yes, I love dessert. Chocolate is first on the list but just about anything is good. I have a sweet tooth. Or a whole mouth of sweet teeth, actually. When we were kids, we had to “eat our dinner, or we wouldn’t get dessert.” I would just chomp away at the crunchy, tasteless grub set before me, so I could have cake. (As I got older, I realized, I could skip the tasteless grub, and go right to dessert. “Why waste calories on dinner, when you can spend them on dessert?”)
When I got older, I also realized that doing crap at work that you don’t want to do is more accurately “A Sh*t Sandwich”– but the principle is the same. Each your “sandwich” or you might get fired.
And so, I endured NiMo, a month of writing in hopes of getting enough down on the paper as a first draft, that will (hopefully, eventually, miraculously) turn into a novel. I did not make the 50,000 word goal, but I came close.
I have a rough, oh so very rough, first draft. Someday it will be finished.
And all those eggshells will have been worth it…..
SueAnn Porter 