The Year I Was Supposed to Write Something Else

Looking back over the last twelve months, I am honestly amazed at how many ups and downs my household has survived. When January started, I was supposed to finish writing a serious academic monograph on urban architecture in Boston. Naturally, I was going to complete all twelve chapters by autumn, but everything went completely wrong.

My first obstacle appeared when the main publishing house decided to scrap my contract indefinitely. I was about to submit the third chapter when my editor called to tell me the entire series was cancelled. I tried to roll with the punches, but it felt like all my careful preparation had gone up in smoke in just five minutes.

Then came the home repairs. We were supposed to settle into a quiet routine after renovating our kitchen in February, but the contractors backed out at the last minute. They left us in the lurch with half-installed plumbing and exposed wiring. We had to make other arrangements and live out of boxes for three months.

By May, I had second thoughts about the whole writing project anyway. I was meant to spend the summer researching historical archives in Denver, but my travel budget was slashed by half. I had to turn down an invitation to speak at a major conference because my train tickets were twice as expensive as expected.

Of course, looking for a silver lining in all this chaos is difficult, but I realized that every disaster was a blessing in disguise. If my research trip hadn't been called off, I would never have stayed home to help my neighbor plant her community garden.

That unexpected community gardening project taught me how to salvage a ruined schedule. Instead of panicking, I developed a reliable fallback plan for my daily routine. I started writing short personal essays in the mornings instead of struggling with dry academic jargon.

My spouse supported me through every sudden change of plan. Whenever a new crisis arose, we simply created a fresh contingency strategy and kept moving forward. We learned that having a rigid plan B is much better than pretending everything is under control.

By August, my chaotic year had turned into a surprisingly productive period of creative writing. I was supposed to be a stressed-out academic finishing a boring book, but instead I became a much happier essayist with a collection of funny stories about domestic disasters.

Naturally, life continued to test our patience right up until November. Just when we thought we had everything under control, our ancient family car broke down on the interstate highway outside of Austin during a torrential downpour.

As I sit here typing this final paragraph, I realize something hilarious about the assignment I was given. This essay was supposed to be a professional product review for a new office software brand, but somehow I wrote a memoir about my ruined year instead.

Read again and choose the right answer

What was the author originally supposed to finish in January?

• An academic monograph on urban architecture
• A commercial product review for office software
• A historical novel set in Boston

What happened to the kitchen renovation in February?

• It was finished two weeks ahead of schedule.
• The contractors backed out at the last minute.
• The city council stopped the construction work.

How did the author spend the summer instead of doing research in Denver?

• Traveling across Europe with friends
• Working as a freelance software developer
• Helping a neighbor with a community garden

What surprising realization does the author have in the final paragraph?

• The essay was supposed to be a software product review.
• The academic book was actually published on time.
• The car was finally repaired by the insurance company.

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