The Merits of Spider Solitaire and Writing


The Merits of Spider
Solitaire and Writing by Debra H. Goldstein

When my writing isn’t
going well or I’m simply bored, I play Spider Solitaire.  In the old days, before I bought my latest
computers, my game of choice was Solitaire. 
Occasionally, even now, I’ll play a hand of Solitaire, but usually I
devote my energies to Spider Solitaire. I find it more of a challenge, plus it
wastes more time.

Let me be a bit more
specific. The merits of the game are simple – it is a challenge (I’m still at
the mid-level of play), it’s fun, and more important it distracts me from the
project at hand for 3-5 minutes.  If I
play enough games of Spider Solitaire, an hour can easily fly by.  That’s something that doesn’t always happen
with my writing.  When I’m drawing a
blank or the words coming out can best be defined as trash, time moves
slowly.  In fact, it crawls at a pace
that the fastest thing I can do is hit delete and realize the dead feeling I
have is despair.

That’s not the case when I
play Spider Solitaire.  The hand may not
work out, but a message flashes that lets me know I played a good game.  I smile and begin another game.  There is no gap thinking I’ll never find my
way.  A click and I’m there.  Not bad, but not good, either.  Because instinctively, I know that if I click
away all the hours, in the end I’ll feel worse for not having tried to find a
way to communicate my thoughts. 

I write to express myself.
I play Spider Solitaire as a means of avoidance.  Both have a complimentary place – the key is
to find a balance between the two.  Those
who do, write.  Those who don’t, mourn
what could have been.

7 replies
    • Debra H. Goldstein
      Debra H. Goldstein says:

      That is a fun game, but I only think of backgammon with a set my parents had — very fancy set, but not virtual.

  1. Linda Rodriguez
    Linda Rodriguez says:

    Nice post, Debra. I find that writers my age tend to go for electronic versions of traditional card/board games to procrastinate on writing while younger writers tend to use full-fledged video games, such as Dragon Age or Assassin's Creed for their distractions.

    • Debra H. Goldstein
      Debra H. Goldstein says:

      You are so right about that. My son-in-law has a dedicated game area while I just stick to my computer. Hope you are feeling better.

  2. ML
    ML says:

    Great post, Debra! Maybe we could get an encouraging message that pops up when we're writing…or rather when we're not writing because we're stuck. "You can do it!" "Write on!"

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