Did you know that Saturday,
April 13, was National Scrabble Day?

GalleyCat alerted me to this
great day by asking, “Will You Celebrate National Scrabble Day?” Immediately I
wished I had my parents’ Scrabble board from circa 1984, pictured below.

Author David Bukszpan gave
GalleyCat a list of book-related words you can play in Scrabble. It includes suggestions
like JAY GATS BY and LADY MIDDLE TON. 

The last time I played Scrabble
I was sitting in a tent in Canada during a thunderstorm. My sister and I had
barely claimed our camping spot when the skies let loose on a July afternoon. We
sat huddled in sleeping bags, sipping homemade apple cider, using our wits to
outdo the other’s word choices. Unfortunately, I think my highest scoring word
was BANJO.

I lost of course – my sister is
an English teacher who loves Scrabble – but that’s beside the point.

Scrabble should be a required hobby
for anyone in the business of publishing words. Think of how creative we could
get with the inspiration that comes from placing an eighteen-point word!  

But then again I think about
Scrabble games I’ve played with my parents, both very clever individuals, where
a dictionary must always be present.
There’s no telling what words my father will generate or that the A-L-C-E-A placed
by my mother is another name for hollyhocks. She is the queen of obscure words
my father and I know nothing about. (These are important facts to remember for anyone
playing Scattergories with her or my father.)

In a previous Director Dish post,
Donna declared that she is a lover of words. She even talked about playing
Scrabble and Words with Friends! This is clear proof that a) all press
directors must love words, b) all people who love words play Scrabble and Words
with Friends, c) anyone in the publishing industry has, at some point in their
life, played a word game, and d) I should challenge Donna to a game of Scrabble.

Hmm… I wonder if she would be up
for a friendly competition.

Or maybe the Marketeers and I
will attempt a game.

ATTN in-house staff: If anyone
hears commotion in the marketing room, it’s because I stole Bukszpan’s idea of
JAY KAY ROW LING.

-Rosemary