I wrote 4,000 words yesterday. I know, I know. That isn’t nearly enough to catch up on how behind I am, but you have to admit, it’s pretty good. Especially considering how exhausted I was after Election Day, that I also finished two books I was in the middle of, and…nope, that’s it. That’s all I did yesterday.
I got 2500 of those words in doing my movie/writing routine – watching five minutes of a movie, followed by 500 words, and so on. It works surprisingly well. I got the remaining in playing a game my friend Abby and I made up called the Hallmark Movie Drinking Writing Game. Except, tonight, it was just the Hallmark Movie Writing Game. Basically, you watch a Hallmark-esque Christmas movie, and every time there is a cliché, you write a certain amount of words, depending on the cliché. I’ll give you examples below. The whole document is two whole pages, but I won’t bore you with all of it. Just so you have an idea of the type of cliches:
- Someone mentions dead spouse/parent – write ten words
- someone hangs up without saying goodbye – write 25 words
- Tree shopping/decorating a tree – write 50 words
- Gets sent somewhere new because of Reasons – 100 words
- Spots theme such as: Person who hates Christmas is about to be shown the light – Write for ten minutes non-stop.
Etc. It gets in a surprising amount of words. If anyone wants the full list, let me know.
“Can I see a map of Ethrill?”
Ethrill
Instantly the far wall faded away and a map of Ethrill appeared so large and lifelike, it almost felt as though it were alive. I grinned, delighted at the chance to study it fully…I reached out and touched the fields, pulling back, startled, when the flowers undulated as if I had really touched them. I frowned, reaching out and touching them again. A tap to the daisy fields, and a soft scent came wafting toward me. I touched the rose field, and the unmistakable scent of a rose rippled back
Forest Idylls 