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