grist for one's/the mill

phrase

US

: something that can be used for a particular purpose

Now that he's a writer, he regards his difficult childhood experiences as grist for the mill.

Examples of grist for one's/the mill in a Sentence

Recent Examples on the Web

Rivera’s enormous shadow and how Kahlo came to eclipse it, further grist for the mill. — Chadd Scott, Forbes.com, 29 Jan. 2026

When Rhys' Nile Jarvis moves in next door, his dark past provides ample grist for the mill. — Randall Colburn, Entertainment Weekly, 19 Nov. 2025

But the subject matter offers plenty of grist for the mill for an interviewer. — Thomas Page, CNN Money, 11 Nov. 2025

Instead, these errors have been grist for the mill for those who are making hay of AI while the sun shines on its promise. — Sonja Drimmer, Artforum, 1 Apr. 2025

Those are just intermediary steps that are merely grist for the mill. — Lance Eliot, Forbes, 15 Jan. 2025

My encounters with dancing baseball players and rotating snow brooms were not grist for the mill of public discussion; this experience was unique to me. — Cal Newport, The New Yorker, 15 Jan. 2025

For Ephron, any experience, no matter how silly or tragic, was grist for the mill. — Ariela Gittlen, New York Times, 31 Dec. 2024

The Hernandez story even became grist for the mill of comedy during the roast of Hernandez’s old teammate, Tom Brady, earlier this year. — Ben Rosenstock, Vulture, 17 Sep. 2024