A Writer's To-Done List

If you are a disorganized writer, perhaps you've been advised, by people who just don't get it, to use a To-Do list. And you try it and every day you leave things undone, and now you have a WRITTEN RECORD of how lazy, bad and unworthy you are.

Do your negative beliefs about yourself really need that kind of reinforcement? I didn't think so.

What I've started using is what I call a To-Done list. I keep it in a steno notebook. I put the date at the top of the page. On the left column, I put the heading 'Writing'. On the right column, I put 'Life'. And then I write down not things I plan to do, but things I've actually done.

On my right column today I put down that I've watched the EWTN daily Mass, I've baked some low-carb biscuits and made today's batch of a low-carb drink.

On the left column, I put down that I've done my writing meditation and morning affirmation work, and then I've outlined the first 1/4 of my novel in progress--- 3 chapters, eleven scenes.

I've also added those scenes and chapters to my YWriter version of the novel. YWriter, in case you haven't discovered it, is FREE novel-writing software. It makes it easy to set up your scenes and chapters. Once you have that set up, you can write the third scene first and the first scene after you've finished the eighth. It also tells you the word count at the bottom of the screen so you don't get distracted checking it. The way I got distracted from the topic at hand to tell you about YWriter.

Back on topic. The advantage of the To-Done list is that you end up, at the end of each day, with a list of things you can feel positive about. Plus, when real life intervenes, you can get credit for things you did that you hadn't planned on, without being locked in regret over things you planned to do that you didn't get to, or perhaps that you are not ready to get to.

Because the fact is that rigidly following a plan you drew up that morning--- or at the beginning of the week--- often isn't the most efficient way to get things done. Maybe instead of writing that chapter one, what you do is research a few things that will make writing that chapter swifter, when you get to it.

Or perhaps you will write a first chapter when you had more research on the schedule. Or you had an emergency with a family member, dealt with it, and now don't have to worry about it for awhile.

What if you feel like you need to list things you plan to do? If it is a series of tasks for a certain writing project, you might put the list with the rest of the papers that project has generated--- without mapping out certain dates for the tasks to be done.

You might also write reminders on post-it notes for more urgent tasks, or put them on a wall calendar if they are things like deadlines imposed by others, or appointments which cannot be missed. When you accomplish these things, add them to your To-Done list.

The steno notebook I now use for my To-Done list was originally used for a more conventional To-Do list. I perhaps do the same amount of productive stuff with both systems. But with a To-Done list, I don't have a guilt-producing list of undone tasks facing me every day. Or, equally bad, a tiny list of planned tasks to make sure lazy old me can get the day's tasks done every day.

Have you ever tried to use a To-Do list? Was it a success? Did the things you DIDN'T get done bother you, or make you feel you were lazy or unworthy? Do you think a To-Done list might work for you?