I had the entire weekend to myself. MSB and his brothers went off to the farm for the last hunt of the season, and I intended two solid days of writing on my WIP, Riding Herd. Two days! Can you imagine how close I’d be to finishing the novel, if Hallmark didn’t exist? Or if some channel somewhere hadn’t shown Tommy Lee Jones in Man of the House? Or UP showing The 5th Quarter?

Yes, I blame them–and the fact MSB didn’t take the remote control with him. I’m the victim here, I tell ya.

Not buying it? Smart.

Three of the movies in their ad above played this weekend, plus another not in the picture, Perfect on Paper, plus Saturday’s debut Away & Back (terrific movie, by the way. If you didn’t see it, catch it next time it’s on). Actually, I could mark the weekend up to research. I don’t read romance, but I do love light-hearted romance movies like the ones Hallmark offers. Since a secret goal is to have one of my novels nabbed by the premier “date night” channel, I have to know what appeals to them.

Long time ago a friend wrote a post for AuthorCulture about how to get more writing time: get busy. Not “get busy writing,” but get busy living. A tight, hectic schedule works better for the writer than having all the time in the world, especially when her passion is writing. If it’s a hobby, something she’d like to do “someday,” then that someday will never come. She will always be too busy. She will always have excuses.

Having too much time is just as bad, because there’s always tomorrow, always “later.” I faced that this weekend. Instead of a long writing spree, I had a staycay–watched movies, worked on my latch hook rug, snacked so much even my pjs were tight last night. In the end, I wrote the same amount I write daily during the three hours designated to my WIP. If I were truly busy, I wouldn’t even have those three hours. Makes me wonder if I couldn’t double my count if I took on a few more projects during the day.

So for the two-day weekend, Hallmark won. Hallmark 2, Author zip.