By now, the poker world has realized that Gavin Griffin has become our first Triple Crown winner; winning events in each of the three major poker tours. In 2004, he won his World Series of Poker bracelet in the $3K PLH event. In 2007, he won the European Poker Tour’s Grand Final in Monte Carlo. This week he won the World Poker Tour’s Borgata Winter Open. I’m beginning to suspect the boy can play. And yes, I chose this picture of him, taken during the 2007 WSOP, to deflect comments about my own hair in my previous post. Of course Gavin’s hair choice had little to do with the style du jour and everything to do with raising breast cancer awareness. Gavin got his start as a writer, which actually gives me no encouragement whatsoever about my poker playing potential.
I hadn’t talked to my buddy BJ (”promo” picture right) in awhile and was tickled to see him comment on my last post. Without thinking, I picked up the phone to call him. Of course he didn’t answer as he was covering the final table that Gavin was about to win. D’oh. I caught up with him last night as he was waiting for his pizza to be delivered. I like talking with BJ because it gives me a chance to channel my inner poker media nerd. We can spend hours talking about poker media models, analyzing camera angles, and dissecting different player ranking systems. I am a little pissed at him, however, because I see from his comment that he finally perfected time travel, a topic we’ve discussed often, and didn’t tell me.
Most people only see BJ as the consummate media nerd; head bent over a smokin’ laptop or behind a lens. I guess that’s why his work crew was a little surprised to see “gambling BJ” emerge during their last night in Atlantic City. The crew was looking for some mindless and cheap gambling entertainment and decided to hit the $5 roulette wheel at the Showboat. While others played the short odds, BJ went long. After he hit for a nice payday, everyone started shooting for big payoffs. BJ was up pretty good on the night when they were about to take their final spin. He pocketed his initial investment and $20 and put everything else on the board. People were shocked. He hit, leaving the table up about $700. His work crew was a little dumbfounded by the whole experience. But guys, if we didn’t have a little bit of a gambler’s heart, would we be in this business?
Although I’ve made some progress, I’m still fighting through some writer’s block issues. I’ve had to go to the mattresses on this one. Before I offer up some things I’ve found helpful over the years when the word flow slows to a trickle, let me first pay homage to the blockless blogger. Al Can’t Hang logged in with his 1000th post. Now that, ladies and gentlemen (and bloggers), is some writin’. Congrats Al. So back to the cure that Al doesn’t need.
Stock Up: Treat writer’s block like your inner hurricane warning. Go to the grocery store and get everything you might possibly need for the next few days. For a real hurricane you might buy bottled water and canned goods. For writer’s block, think wine, coffee, chocolate, cigarettes, and the ultimate block combatant; Smarties – there’s nothin’ like a good sugar high.
Sanctuary: In a real hurricane, you would hole up in a well supported inner room without windows. For writer’s block, you need a clutter free space with some filtered natural light. You don’t actually want a good view of the world outside as that leads to distraction. You just need some reminder that it actually exists. Finding anything clutter free in my house (because of the tiling work still in process) was almost an impossible feat. I actually thought about working from the jacuzzi tub in the master bath, as that is one of the only rooms that isn’t piled high with furniture. Instead I had to downsize my idea of sanctuary and am working from the bed in the guest room. The bed is at least clutter-free, unless you count cats. I am trying to ignore the fact that I’m sharing the room with dining room chairs and hundreds of CDs in various boxes and crates. It’s not exactly optimum, but it will do for now.
Grind it Out: Most people have a vision of poker as a constantly thrilling and glamorous occupation. But we all know that to make it in poker, you have to spend a lot of time just grinding it out. A lot of people have a similar romantic notion of writing. For me, divine inspiration usually comes only after days of writing and focused contemplation. In other words, to ultimately write well, I have to keep writing – anything – even if it’s just writing about my writer’s block. It’s like the shark that has to keep swimming. It’s a game of inertia and momentum. Dr Chako offered up a great quote from the composer Leonard Bernstein “Inspiration is wonderful when it happens, but the writer must develop an approach for the rest of the time… The wait is simply too long.” The Doc gets it. The good news is that I am writing – not yet what I want – but it is hopefully just a matter of time.
Risk vs. Reward: Dave Scharf (”promo” picture right), the best editor I ever worked with – and a hell of a poker player and writer, advised that writing under the threat of something loathsome was a great block breaker. I tend not to respond well to threat; I’m a reward girl. The most prolific I’ve ever been as a writer was when I isolated myself in the mountains of New Mexico. For every 20 pages I wrote, I would reward myself with an hour’s drive for an evening of poker at the Cities of Gold casino. I haven’t yet come up with a reward system for my current situation, but I think this may be one case where real progress will be a reward unto itself.
Oh and thanks for the comments on my last post. My biggest fear after posting it was that people would be too horrified to even acknowledge their horror. Even wildbill’s “speechless” comment was a relief. And of course the biggest silver lining was that one of my best friends in high school found me through this post – because he actually recognized me!