On Writing and Game Reviews

So, just about a month or so after scoring a copy of Rock Band I was finally able to get Bill a review of the game for Gameshark. (You can find it here.) Here's the thing, though. A review for Rock Band is not a challenging thing to write. The game is pure gold. Gold, Jerry! GOLD! (If you don't get the reference, try Google or something. Or just kill yourself.) So why did it take me a full three weeks? I mean I took the last two weeks of the year off for vacation, and while my kids were sick a lot, and I had a buttload of Christmas shopping to do, it's not like I didn't have the time.

It's the curse of the blank page.

Twice during my break I sat down and opened MS Word to write the darn thing and twice I sat there for about five minutes staring at that empty white space where the words are supposed to go and said aloud, "I got noth'n." Each time I ended up closing Word to move on to something else. (Very often, Civilization 4. What a great game.)

This is why I make my living as an editor and not as a writer. There are times when I face a blank screen and just buckle, not unlike a good belt. I can take any piece of writing and deconstruct it, change a few words, shift the order around a bit and make it better. But you throw a blank screen in front of me and, god help me, but it's like George Bush trying to comprehend particle physics. (Or, like me trying to comprehend particle physics.)

It's a rather helpless feeling that, fortunately, comes and goes. It's also why it's nice to have this blog because it's easy, and consequence free place to get the juices flowing a bit, rather than something that requires a bit more effort like a game review or a report at work.

Hopefully, I'm getting past it now since I still owe Bill a review of College Hoops 2k8. This series has officially run its course with me so I'll be glad to get the review out of the way so I can set it aside once and for all. (It's not that it's bad. But the gripes I have with it going back four years are so are still there. I seem to be the only one, but I think the gameplay just flat out feels scripted and I can't abide it anymore.)