I’m not the greatest at sticking with a challenge.

I usually have a day where I fail (often several days). Lent is a classic example. In years past, I’ve resolved to say a rosary everyday or read some of my bible everyday, and without fail, at some point during Lent, I screw up and don’t do what I resolved to do. I miss a day. Sometimes two. I don’t flake out on big things or one-at-a-time things, but daily things? I always mess up at least once. A flaw in my character.

Today was no different. I barely read a book all day. I worked a lot, did some writing, took care of the kids, but reading a book fell lower and lower on the priority list. For the past several days, my nights have been spent watching Stranger Things S4 with my husband, but I still managed to get my book reading in. Tonight, however, was different. Tonight, I played my new birthday present, the 2021 update of the classic board game HeroQuest.

It was a present from my husband, and because I hadn’t played HeroQuest since I was a wee lass of eight or nine, when it came in the mail the other day, I’d been itching to open it up and start playing. The responsible thing to do would’ve been to do my reading challenge, but my brother was available (as was my husband), the kids were sleeping over at Gogo and Papa’s house, and I wasn’t going to let this opportunity pass me by.

Instead of reading tonight, I played HeroQuest.

I don’t feel bad about it. The whole point of trying to read more books was to help keep my imagination stimulated, my creative muse fed. Reading books — fiction and non-fiction — is probably the best activity I can do for my writing besides writing itself. So yes, I need to read as much as I can. Hence this challenge.

But playing HeroQuest tonight was also a way to feed my muse. It took me back to my childhood — which is a good thing, considering I’m in the midst of drafting a novella about a fictionalized version of my childhood. And all the classic sword and sorcery fantasy stuff — the barbarian with his huge long sword, the goblins and orcs and gargoyles, the treasures and traps — all of it was a welcome return to the well-worn but beloved tropes of my youth.

Basically, I had a huge smile on my face the whole time we were playing and I couldn’t stop smiling even after we wrapped up. I’m still smiling now.

So yeah, I flaked out on my reading challenge, but sometimes that kinda spontaneous skiving is needed. Sometimes it’s fun to be doing the thing you shouldn’t. Tonight, it was well worth it. Tomorrow, it’s back to reading.