you could either be successful or be us

Day one --- not so good.

That's putting it mildly. I got fucking shelled.

My first game was a disaster. My opponent was quite good, and I couldn't get anything going. She opened with DAHLIAs, then three plays later laid down SOPRANI. My opening rack, on the other hand, was really ugly and I could only make a play for 15 points. I had to trade again, then made another mediocre play for 20. Anyway, after five turns, the score was 197 to 64. It didn't get any better after that. I was able to bingo with INERTIA, but the rest of my plays were pretty weak. She finished with another bingo, UNSOILeD, to a D that was already on the board. She more than doubled me up, 542-266. Given that you work with a cumulative point spread, this is a bad way to start.
Second game, a little better. I bingoed twice, with REWRiTES and BEANIES. I missed another easy bingo, SENORES. I didn't play it because I was unsure if it was good. It is. I ended up winning this game 373-341. A win, but still in a deep hole. Third game was another loss. 411-333. I played a lot of garbage in that game. Lots of six and eight point plays. I have to stop doing that. The best thing I did in that game was to spot a place to play what I thought was an orphan bingo. I had AERIEST on my rack, but nowhere to hook anything. I eventually found a Y at O8, from which I was able to play YEASTIER, to the triple. She answered with a bingo of her own, and I couldn't make a late rally.
So After the first three games, I'm down quite a bit, but there's still a bunch of games to play. 8 today and 4 on Sunday. Still plenty of time. And if I can get one really great game, I might have a chance to come out near the top.