Pebblepup's Writing Den

To-do lists are helpful in organizing any chores you have to do on a particular day. It’s also a good way to organize your writing life.

I maintain my writing to-do list in an app. I can see what I wanted to do on a particular day with only a little scrolling in the widget on my phone’s home screen. That’s useful. That’s key.

Having the list available like that reminds me of what I planned to do on a particular day. It’s a form of organization that keeps my writing from falling into chaos.

My phone app can tie together many to-do lists into one daily list. This adds a layer of organization to my daily to-do items. I find it useful. You might too.

All I need to do is create the item on the appropriate list, such as writing. I pick what day I plan to do the task, then add it to the list. I don’t have to worry about it. On the day I wanted to do the task, it will appear on my daily to-do list.

You can do it too. There are a lot of to-do apps in the various app stores online. Or you could get a pen and paper planner or a piece of paper and pen. You only have to look at the list every day.

My list has kept me on track with my writing tasks. That’s valuable, at least to a procrastinator like me. I can set a due date for the item and get a reminder when it comes due. That’s valuable. At least it is to me. I set deadlines in my to-do list and I find it helps me to keep them. You might find it helpful as well.

It is a good way to break a large project into smaller pieces. That makes it easier to do the tasks you need to to reach the goals you set up for yourself. In that way, your project nears completion by the time you set. Of course, you need to set realistic deadlines.

Write down the steps you need to do to complete your project. It can be as broad or as detailed as you like. Then set a deadline for the project and for each task you need to do. In my case, the app does the rest, reminding me of what I want to do and when.

I use the app because it’s automated and once I finish entering the tasks, I can more or less forget it. If the task takes more than one day to do, my app lets me set it up to repeat.

So if you have a large writing project, say, revising your novel. Break that project down to what you need to do and when you need to do it. Then set deadlines. That’s all there is to it. Maintenance is to look at the to-do list every day and do the tasks. Good luck and keep writing.