The Tribe Has Spoken

I admit it.

I'm a Survivor junkie. I've watched every season from Africa to the present and love trying to guess who's going to get voted off and who's going to outwit, outplay and outlast the others. While I think it's lots of fun to watch, I don't think I'm cut out for participation. No toilet paper, no sunscreen, no soft bed, no potable drinking water, bugs for dinner, working day and night to eke out existance, competing in all those challenges... well you get the picture. But it's a heck of a lot of fun to watch!

The current season takes place on an island off the coast of Panama, and in a new twist, each week one person must go to a separate island, called Exile Island, and spend the night alone. Of course, there's an immunity idol hidden there and the lucky duck who finds that will have a definite ace in the hole.

This season's game started with 4 teams divided by age and gender. After one week they merged and now there are two teams, which were selected in a schoolyard pick. The contestants include a firewalker, a lumberjill, a singer, a fighter pilot, a nurse and a retired astronaut. They have one goal in common -- be the sole survivor and receive a check for one million dollars.

To do so, they must compete in various reward and immunity challenges, develop a strategy, form alliances and work hard.

You know, it's really not a lot different than writing.

Each of us has a strategy for how we write each story or book, how we plan our time and what we want from our careers. Just last weekend, the Playfriends sat down together and planned out some promotion for the website. We are constantly looking for ways to put our name in front of people. Hmmm... maybe we should design a Writing Playground buff.

Some of us have entered writing contests. It's not a matter of winning immunity, but for some authors, it has meant getting a contract and receiving "the call."

The Writing Playground is a team. And unlike the older women's tribe that voted off their strongest member (they're too stupid to live in my opinion), the Playground team works to their strengths, supports each other and shares in the rewards.

We have our challenges and fortunately none of them have yet required us to eat bugs or rotten fish. Well... there was the meth lab. *g* We even have our own version of Exile Island. It's called "the deadline cave."

The big difference, however, between writing and Survivor is that writing is not a zero sum game where there can only be one winner. With writing, you can win in many ways. Some writers are published by big New York houses and some by smaller presses. Some are published in novel-length fiction and others in short fiction or non-fiction. Some are never published, but write every day for the sheer joy of putting words on paper.

What's important is that you outwit the critics, outplay the naysayers and outlast the self-doubt to achieve whatever goals you've set for yourself.

What's been your biggest "Survivor" moment?