How to blow your deadline, one joystick at a time

Iain Banks has long been a fan of videogames, even going so far to work them into his fiction, especially his SF work as Iain M. Banks. But when readers started wondering why he wouldn’t deliver a novel by the end of the year, he ‘fessed up the Independent: for the first time, he missed his deadline thanks to a serious addiction to videogames – and one in particular from the fiendish mind of Sid Meier.

“It’s all because I became a serial addict of the computer game ‘Civilisation’” Said Banks, “I played it for three months and then realised I hadn’t done any work. In the end, I had to delete all the saved files and smash the CD. It is very unprofessional of me. I had to ask for an extension for the first time, which made me feel just like I was a student again.”

I can think of several people who are ohsoclose to using that particular excuse for not writing, that’s for sure…

Launch a social media campaign that will build your brand and deliver results in our online Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting June 7. Speakers include Abigail Cusick (Bravo Digital), Gregory Galant (Sawhorse Media), Alex Leo (Thomson Reuters Digital), Jim Tobin (Ignite Social Media), and many more. Read the reviews.