Dave Baldwin

Great writers are feisty and competitive. They obsess over their writing. They continually refine it to make the words as sharp and effective as they can possibly be. They cleanse and feed their hearts regularly, making time for walks in the park and afternoons of painting. They do this because they know that it is necessary to keep their competitive edge sharp.

Playing games is an important component in a writer’s regimen of activity. It can be any kind of game, really. The game can be baseball, Twister, football, backgammon, chess, Dungeons and Dragons, Scrabble, tennis, Super Mario Brothers, Texas Hold ‘Em, hide and seek, Black Jack, Guitar Hero, truth or dare, dodgeball, or just about anything else. The type of game is unimportant. What matters is that you summon forth the ruthless spirit of competition.

Choose your games wisely. Play interactive games. Play games that show you different sides of people’s character. Play games that speak to your heart. Play games that reflect who you are. Play competitive games where there is a winner and a loser. Play games that allow players to experience the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. Keep score.

When you meet a new person and they look like potential allies, invite them to play a game with you. An ideal way to introduce new people into a community is to set up a standing game night at regular intervals. The conversations that form around the game will reveal much about people in a single night that otherwise would have taken months or years to unmask.

The way people behave in a game will show you how they handle defeat, how they respond to setbacks, and how they treat victory. It will show you how easily they become complacent, and how easily they get nasty when things don’t go their way. It will also show you how well luck favors them. Finally, it will show you if they know how to recognize and act on a good opportunity when they see one.

Playing games forces you to shape your thinking according to time limits, scoreboards, and focused objectives. Open-ended thinking and endless brainstorming are dangerous distractions. Games do not allow for open-ended thinking. They require concentration and focus, which are absolutely essential for any writer. Most importantly, competition will remind you that the clock is ticking, and that every second of laziness is causing you to lose ground.