To do lists are the most important tool I use to treat writing like a job.

listening

 

I keep two to-do lists.  The first is in my writing journal.  When I think of an idea to fix a story, I draw a box and write it  in the journal.

Then, daily, I transfer tasks from the journal to an electronic to do list.  I use habitrpg.  It helps that I take ‘damage’ every time a to-do list item isn’t done.  I’m still learning how to do it right. I kill myself – my habitrpg character self – many times by having too grand or too vague a to-do list item.

todo

Bad To Do List Items:

  • Finish the UFO story
  • Write a new story
  • Fix that plot problem
  • Completely revise novel.

Good To Do List Items:

  • Write the next scene in the UFO story.
  • Give UFO story a revision read-through.
  • Start a new story.
  • Spend twenty minutes brainstorming that plot problem.
  • Work on Novel for fifteen Minutes.

 

A good To Do:

  • Is not open-ended. It has a clear finish point.
  • Can be accomplished within one hour or less.
  • Is not VAGUE.
  • Does not rely on spontaneous brilliance.

And, finally: Never let your to do list empty.  I frequently give myself the task “Make more to-do’s” just for this.

block

Slogging my way through a ‘to do’ item, however small, defeat the infamous Writer’s Block. And clicking the check box makes me feel all happy and accomplished!