Casinos and Writing Similarities

I must confess—I like to gamble. When my sister comes to visit, which she does frequently, we head out to a local casino, about thirty miles away. It got me to thinking how much writing and playing the slot machines are similar. (I suppose this is relevant to other games, but I still can’t master craps or video poker.)


The anticipation of driving up to the casino is akin to the anticipation of writing a book. You’re starting fresh, you have high hopes for doing well that afternoon, and you look forward to what’s coming. When you begin the process of either, it’s exciting and interesting.

Mostly though, what I find comparable is the suddenness of winning or losing at both. One book is swooned over by the editors and sells well. The next sale is rejected by the same publisher. Or you get great reviews, even awards, for one story. Hardly anyone likes the subsequent one. Your writing life can be turned around on a dime, good or bad, with a phone call or an email. The same goes for the games. You win, you win, then you lose. You can be down to your last dollar and Boom! you hit the jackpot. This has happened to me frequently. I think I’m done playing the slots then I get a huge payout, enough to keep going for hours. Another parallel came to mind when I put up my backlist and one original novella for sale online. Some days I had 50 sales on the Kindle, Nook, Sony or iPad. Then, I’ve had 225 purchases show up next day.

I can’t say I really like how precarious slot machines are or how tenuous success is in the publishing world. Sometimes I wonder why I do either. Sometimes I think there are a lot more important things in life to be devoting my time, money or energy to. Yet I’m guessing they’re both in my blood. Okay, truthfully, I can go months without setting a foot in the casino. But that’s not so with writing. For over twenty years, I have not stayed away from a manuscript for that length of time. I’m thinking only once did I not write for three full weeks and that was when I was on vacation in Italy. (And then I read on the beach, in trains, on airline flights, which improves my writer’s skill.)

Of course, it goes without saying I’d much rather be bitten by the writing bug than the gambling one. Though the adrenaline rush comes from both for me, I guess I’m just lucky (pun intended) I get it mostly from my writing career, even with its ups and downs.

By: Kathy Shay