If you’re a cup half-empty person, you’re always asking and answering that question. I am, admittedly, a prophet of doom. I can ALWAYS see how things can get worse. Just ask my husband. He’ll tell you about the giant trees that stood majestically on our front lawn, the ones I imagined falling. Not in just any direction, but directly into our home. And not just falling anywhere, into a bedroom. Falling on whichever child was my favorite that week. Yes, I can imagine how things can get worse.

If you’re the husband of a how-can-this-get-any-worse writer, you’ll have to have a tree service come out and assess the trees and dispel your writer-wife’s fears that it will fall and in the direction of the house and onto the favorite child of the week.

If you’re a writer, you can be cheered that your pessimistic nature has utile side effects: riveting and dynamic scenes. Have three minutes? Here’s an example of how I raised the stakes in my manuscript.