Truthfully, I just thought the title sounded good. Pontification is a word I tend to enjoy. It refers to pompous or dogmatic speech (of which I am occasionally accused). It works double because I am going start by saying gaming helps me get my writing day started. Seriously. There is nothing better than gaming for that. I either play something active like Madden or Apex Legends (all hail EA, apparently) or I listen to a book while Minecrafting. The process works for me. At the root is the moment to clear my head and not think about the natural world, because the natural world and all of its largely unnatural responsibilities detract from the process. Writing is about disconnecting (and reconnecting in a oft fictional way) and getting some distance and focusing on the telling of the thing, so for me it takes a bridge to get that moving. Honestly, I make the bridge too long.
Yeah, I game too much. I game when I should be writing. I was going to game instead of blogging right now, but I didn’t and that sure feels like progress to me. The key, as my partner explains, is balance. You have to know when you’re doing too much. It is misleading to think you aren’t doing enough, because the nature of the game is to give you that jolt of dopamine like any other good drug does. Also like any other good drug, you get hooked and don’t let go. I have kids who can go 8 hrs gaming and never even notice the day passed them right by. This is the oddness of the gamer-verse. Like Tik Tok, once you are sucked in, time ceases to have meaning.
So, balance in all things: especially games.
Some Thoughts:
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