Hey y'all.
I reached a milestone today.
1500 solitaire games won on my iPhone.
Amazing, right? I know what you're thinking: "Is there an award for such a feat?" And then you're probably thinking "Is it "feat"? or "feet"?" At least, that's what I would be thinking.
It's not like it was easy, although I do have a fairly high win percentage at around 16.0%. (Don't anyone do the math. Okay, fine! It was 9,425 total games played.)
In my head, little tiny announcers are remarking on my moves, and questioning whether the big risks I take will be worth it.
ex: "That's a lot of empty spaces. Ashton better hope she's got some Kings in that deck, or there could be trouble." and then the other guy says, "What a time to take chances!" because there's a million imaginary bucks on the line.
(Solitaire play-by-play: The most coveted position in sports)
People have asked me before how I have time to blog thee days a week and write a book. Imagine what they'd think if they knew I've almost played 10,000 solitaire games as well. Which, I guess, now they do know.
So, here's the answer. (And if you're interested in any sort of writing career, this is a good thing to know):
Waiting becomes a way of life, and you have to find a way to cope.
Obviously, the best way to spend that waiting time is by writing your next project. I've done that before. But there are certain times on the path to publication where you have to wait, and your brain can't function enough to write.
This week has been a series of spurts and stops, and I have a severe case of whiplash. And it feels delicious. And now I'm waiting again.
I can't wait to tell y'all about it. (Okay, I guess I just did.) In the meantime, raise a glass: To friends old and new, who love Diet Coke as much as I do.
I love all of my blog readers, but especially you. And you.
And what's everyone doing this weekend?
As you know, back in college, I worked an overnight shift at a place for troubled youth. Well, I had to stay up all night to make sure nobody made a mad dash out of the house. So I played a lot of solitaire. After a few hours of that, I would go and watch tv and I would mentally re-arrange the people on tv so that they went in the proper order according to the colors of their clothes: red, black, red, black. Yep, pretty bad.
ReplyDelete16% is awesome. You would make a killing in Vegas at their high rolling solitaire games tables.
You had to mentally rearrange people? Yeah. That's totally normal! Totally. :)
ReplyDeleteWow, that is a LOT of solitaire. If I can't make myself write, I tend to read all the bazillions of books on my TBR pile. Which can be counterproductive, you know, "why can't I get published? Oh, because I suck and this author is amazing, and this is never going to happen for me" etc etc. Hmmm, maybe I should try solitaire. Also, I think you need to email me and tell me about these spurts and whiplash and stuff - sounds exciting! I hope!! :D
ReplyDeleteI bake when I've got writer's block. I discovered that you can use pureed beans instead of oil/butter in just about everything, so whenever I can't deal with the writing, I experiment with recipes. The kids like it because it means that they get lots of cookies and brownies and the like.
ReplyDeleteYes, I am crazy, but you told me at the Paranormalcy book signing that I'm a writer and I should embrace the crazy. So there I go.
Sara- Why didn't I think of reading some books to pass the time? How embarrassing.
ReplyDeleteJenilyn- You can really substitute pureed beans for butter? Maybe I need to get out more, but that is the craziest thing I've heard in a long time! Embrace the crazy!
i love dt. coke and solitaire...
ReplyDeleteand i love you, so
---HAPPY BIRTHDAY!!!---------------
(tomorrow)
will you kill me for announcing it on your blog???
XOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOXOOXOXOXOX
I've got 885 games of bubble breaker and about a billion games of cubes on my phone that I've played. It is just one of my writing distractions.
ReplyDeleteMy husband and I have been known to play on our phones while waiting for movies to start, picking up kids, and in bed. We are one hot couple!
Time? What is this concept you speak of? Now, that I'm in school again, working full-time, and doing my boot camp thing five days a week, I don't have any time to waste ... except at work. So, during that time, when I should probably be working, but I'm not because I'm in between productivity spurts, I work on my blog, surf the Internet, go on Facebook, play Spider Solitaire and Sudoku, answer e-mail, and wish I hadn't given up playing the games I used to play on Facebook. Wow! That was a REALLY long sentence. ;)
ReplyDeleteDorien- Okay I fess up. It's my birthday I've been waiting for! The day before the big day always seems to drag on forever.
ReplyDeleteEden- I can't tell you how many times Sam's gotten after me for playing Solitaire in bed. He's all, "I'm trying to sleep!"
Jenni- Wow. I think I need to make an effort to be a little more productive in life, especially when I look at a list of all the stuff you get accomplished. You go girl!
ANNOUNCEMENT:
I put two bras on today. Just noticed, and now have removed superfluous bra.
It;s because you need extra support right now.
ReplyDeleteFree time? Never heard of it.
ReplyDeleteEmily- That's true! I always was too literal for my own good.
ReplyDeleteValynne- It's a magical time and place, really, passed down from the unicorns.
That's me and freecell. Although the freecell's been a lot lonlier lately. Lots of L's there. Hmmm.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait to hear the good news!
p.s. It was great to see you at Kiersten's signing!
On the iphone, I love the soduku, but online freerice.org is fun too, testing your vocabulary, math, french, german, art, geography knowledge... It's fun to mess around and get that little esteem boost that I retained something from 8th grade french.
ReplyDeleteTease! Carrot dangler! Like we weren't going to read your blog next week anyway? Why do you have whiplash? Why does it feel delicious?
ReplyDeleteShare the joy!
I don't play solitaire, but I do play Plants vs. Zombies, read an average of a book every two days, work full time, sorta-parent three boys, think about cleaning the house, write my own book (slowly), teach Gospel Doctrine, and am group leader of the most active group on David Farland's Writer's Groups.
My point: I deserve to know what you are hinting at! :P
(Happy B-Day tomorrow: my Yahoo has been reminding me for days....)
L.T.- So good to finally meet you in person!
ReplyDeleteMelissa- Ooooh, good suggestions. I'll try it out!
Robin- Thanks for the birthday wishes! And I'm not a carrot-dangler. I just meant things are starting to move along again, now that summer's over, and it feels good to be doing something again!
Sure, sure. If you don't want me living vicariously through your exciting road to publication, that's your call....
ReplyDeletethanks for always making me giggle. :)
ReplyDeleteI'm a fan of the pogo.com games myself. the free ones. lots of puzzly ones and wordy ones and cute little graphics.
oh, and when I can't bring myself to write I ... huh. I think I end up talking to writerly people who are writing and just living vicariously through them for a while :)
That is a lot of games of solitaire! I'm impressed. I usually just hop on facebook to pass the time. I'm sure I would never want the amount of hours I've spent on there to be recorded!
ReplyDeleteWindy- I'll have to try out that pogo sight!
ReplyDeleteLulabell- It's so good Facebook doesn't have those kind of stats!
Just a birthday wish Brod. Hope you had a good one! Love you!
ReplyDeleteThanks Cath!
ReplyDeleteHa! I'm addicted to Solitaire and Scramble. Makes waiting in line not so annoying. But I'm nowhere near 1500 wins!
ReplyDeleteSherrie- Don't worry. With enough patience and hard work, you'll reach 1,500 wins... or die trying. :)
ReplyDelete