Pebblepup's Writing Den

We all have a list of things we want or need to do, whether it is a digital, physical, or mental list. We need to maintain it and set priorities for the list. We need to know which of the items on our lists to do first.

Sometimes you can do that as you go, but sometimes you need to plan which tasks you need to do first. That’s prioritizing. You do the most pressing tasks first.

To do that, you need to figure out which task is more important. Then rank them in order of importance. Once you do that, and if you use deadlines, you set the deadline for the tasks.

The trick is to figure out what you need to do first. That’s usually the most important item on the to-do list.

For example, if you are writing a piece of fiction there are things you need to do before you can write the story. You need to know your characters. So you add create characters to your to-do list. You follow that with a description of the action or an outline, depending on if you are a plotter or a pantser. You follow that by descriptions of the settings, if you want to. Then you put writing the rough draft onto your list.

The point is that you need to put the most important things first. Now, you might consider character creation isn’t that important. It is for me, it’s something I do before I write the rough draft. It doesn’t matter if you put character creation or plotting notes first. That depends on how important you think they are..

You need to get the background tasks done before you can write the story. If you are a serious pantser, you do all that on the fly. I like to have some idea of who my characters are and what the story is before I write the story. So that’s how I order things.

The plot could take priority over the characters, but I usually put the characters first. That allows me to think about the plot longer before I put it down on my list of things to do.

My outlines are broad. It’s a state wide map, not turn by turn directions. I have an idea of where I want to go and how to get there, but the turn by turn happens when I write the first draft.

The next item on my writing to-do list is the first read through. That’s followed by the first revision. Next comes the second read through, the second revision, and formatting for publication.

That’s my writing to-do list for my novels. It echoes my process. The order depends on what you need to do before the next task. That’s how I prioritize my tasks. What you consider most important or as the first step will depend on your own set of priorities.

Give a prioritized writing to-do list a try, you may find it helpful. I do. Good luck and keep writing.