Sometimes life hands you hot fudge sundaes. Sometimes life hands you a steaming pile of, er, beets like the tray-full my friend, the lizard man is toting.

I'm not a beet fan. Yes, I'll eat them roasted with yams and potatoes, drizzled with olive oil and flavored with rosemary. But steamed, or worse, canned?

Ick, ick and more ick.

But in writing, the beets life hands you can add more flavor to your WIP than you think. I just had one of those steaming piles land on my doorstep and at first all I could do was regard it with dismay. But here's the good news. I'm a Mad Men fan.

Now what does that gloriously wonderful show have to do with beets or writing? It's all about the riding lawnmower. Oh, and the unfortunate events misusing such a garden tool can cause to occur.

In the last episode of Mad Men, a drunken secretary races a John Deere madly through a celebratory office party. Of course there's a mishap. And one amputated foot later, the character Roger Sterling leans into the office past a blood-spattered window and remarks to the despondent employees inside, "Relax boys. Somewhere, sometime in this business, this has happened before."

God bless Roger Sterling.

Of course what happened to me has happened somewhere and sometime before. It's actually a pretty relatable experience. So, I integrated my beet pile into my WIP. And now my main character is sharing my misery. It also gave me a chance to put my particular misfortune, which thankfully wasn't of the riding lawnmower variety, into perspective. And you know, it added a nice dimension to my story.

Beets.

They may not be so bad after all.

Especially chased with a nice, relaxing glass of wine.