The Mistress

I’ve had a mistress off and on for better part of a decade now.

She is a sweet, loving, nurturing, torturous, life sucking, murderous, attention whore. I’ve encouraged my brothers, friends, even my wife to jump on her over the years. I suspect when my son comes of age I will encourage him to get a piece as well.

As you would expect my wife hates her. We’ve had our share of fights over her and who I spend my time with. My argument is would she rather me be down at the bar getting smashed or playing with the mistress?

The good news is she is cheap, coming in around $10-$15 a month with an initial “get to know you fee” of around $50.

I am of course referring too MMORPG’s. In layman terms Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game. If you haven’t heard of World of Warcraft by now I suspect you still get your news in paper form.

There is no bigger obstacle in my writing that this wench. It takes so much will power to step away from the keyboard and do some writing. I am not the only with this problem of course. http://johnaugust.com/archives/2007/seven-things-warcraft

After reading that blog I kicked my mistress to the curb. Uninstalled WoW and haven’t looked back. Even when my gamers group posted the link to the new WoW expansion I could care less. It’s a good feeling.

But like any good feeling it calls me…every day. So now I play a Warcraft III mod called DoTA. Complex, fun and games usually last an hour. I can get one in before I settle down to write. Problem is I’ve been getting in 2-3 before I start writing and its slowing progress. Gonna have to kick in the will power and bring it back down to moderation.

The thing is I love these games. I love the worlds, being something powerful and cool on the screen, accomplishing tasks, defeating enemies, being recognized for good play. Pretty much all the things any normal human being would want right?

What better way to get all of these things and more than to create it? Build the worlds, make your own rules, imagine the heroes, live their adventures, pit them against your worst fears and conquer them. This, to me is what writing is about. This is what motivates me to create stories.