It's Like Gilda Said

It's always something.
If, for example, a person has worked to get something, say a manuscript, done, and if the day comes when that manuscript falls into shape quite nicely and she begins to salivate at the prospect of sending out some submission letters, a call will come to say that a relative who yesterday was perfectly fine is now in the hospital and needs her immediate attention.
I'm guessing that when the day comes that this same author sells her manuscript to the biggest publisher in the U.S. and receives an advance check for 3.4 million dollars, a call will come to let her know that a heretofore unheard-of sister who was given away at birth needs a kidney transplant, and said author is the only possible donor. Of course, the sister will reside in New Zealand and have eleven children, some of whom are still in diapers, and she will also be the director of an old folks' home that will close unless someone steps in to help until she recovers from her surgery.