Last week my husband and I celebrated our two year anniversary at a resort in North Georgia. The cabin was nice It had a private hub tub and a king-size bed. The flat screen television, however, only had four channels. That’s okay. Nobody comes to a resort in North Georgia to watch television anyway. There’s hiking, wineries, and horseback riding. And hey, if you’re settling in for the night and you want to watch something not on one of the four available channels you can either borrow a movie from the main office (free of charge) or, if you’re me, you just whip out your iPad and watch something on Netflix.
OH MY GOD!!!! NO INTERNET!!!!! WHERE ARE WE??? THE TWILIGHT ZONE????
Panic. Panic. Trying hard not to panic……..It’s okay people! I had everything under control. I had Candy Sugar Crush downloaded on my iPad and the Bubble Witch Saga – neither of which requires the Internet. (Slowly calming down.) There’s nothing like a game addiction to distract you from not having the Internet.
I also had my Kindle but pretending to pay attention to my husband is so much easier when playing a game on my iPad. I can look up, nod and smile, and then go right back to playing my game. With the Kindle it would obvious I wasn’t listening and I didn’t want to hurt his feelings. I’m saving that for the 10th anniversary. Moving Along….
In addition to complimentary movie rentals, the main office also had board games available. Our last night at the lodge – a cold and rainy one at that – we settled down in front of a fireplace and played the Game of Life. It had been so long since either one of us played it that we actually had to read the rules. Weird….
It’s a neat game. You can start off with either a college degree or a non-degree path. If you choose college you immediately have debt with the bank but later you can pick your career and your salary.
Somewhere along the way everyone gets married and has children. I had three children and the two youngest were twins (Ouch! My Uterus!).
By the end of the night/retirement we had paid off all of our student loans, changed our jobs a couple of times and walked away with over a million dollars each.
WOW! Wouldn’t it be nice if the Game of Life could be Real Life?
Then I got to thinking….yes….it hurt…..for several days after too….Writing a novel is a lot like the Game of Life. However, instead of being at the fate of a draw pile, the fate of my characters is in my hands. (Evil Snicker) They are as educated/wealthy/successful as I want them to be. Most of the time I’m nice but every now and then I send someone to jail without passing Go or collecting $200. (Different game – I know.)
Side note: If my protagonist wakes me up one more time in the middle of the night, whining about her weight and demanding I remove 30 pounds off her waist; I’m going to fire her from her cushy sales job and write her into a waste removal position.
