…with Gary Moss

In the Springtime there is growth. Springtime doesn’t have to be March 21 – June 21. It can be taken figuratively, like when you discover Scrabble as your calling and begin cutting your teeth on the 2-Letter-Words. Springtime for a scrabble player can last years (there is always so much more to learn).

If there is any major mistake that budding scrabble players make, it is related to their impatience with Springtime.

The lure of lazy Summertime and the necessary hard work in Springtime, related to all the planting, weeding, watering, fertilizing and more, prompts many players to move on, away from scrabble, far too soon.

The early spring harvest is satisfying to the first time farmer, enjoying the fruit of his labor. But he doesn’t know yet what he doesn’t know. The later harvests of summer and autumn is where the sweetness and abundance lies. Some scrabble players, once leaving Springtime, never go back again, remaining content with only the amount of knowledge that can be cultivated during the Springtime harvest. I often see these players year after year in the Novice Division, complaining about their low ratings. DUH.

Have you ever been on a farm during the Fall Harvest? It can be overwhelming. The variety and the quantity can leave you breathless. You are able to enjoy a clear understanding of the often used phrase, ‘You Reap That Which You Have Sown’.

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And who is doing the reaping at a scrabble tournament? You betcha. It is those players who planted and watered and fertilized and weeded. They studied stems and hooks and anagrams and 5-vowel-8′s. They practiced tracking. They thought about hot spots and double-doubles. And now they are finishing quite regularly in the winner’s circle.

Some of the Springtime farmers are eating their unripened, sour grapes, and pointing fingers saying that those guys in the winner’s circle possess special talents and better genes. Well, some of that may be true . . . but the main difference was their patience, their sticktuitiveness, and their study regimens. You betcha.

Writing about the garden makes me recall one of my all time favorite movies about a simple man who influenced powerful governments. The movie is ‘Being There‘ with Peter Sellers. And yes, YOU can too.
The most powerful fertilizer for your scrabble garden is SCRABBLE 101.