Making Time to Write Monday: Organizing Your Writing Life #2 Done Lists

Last week my organizational post on Making Time to Write Monday focused on what to do with To-Do lists. This week we’ll talk about DONE lists. Well, you might say that I just mark off my to-do list and that’s my DONE list. But sometimes you need a little more. I look at my To-Do lists on a weekly basis. I keep my DONE list running all year long. I minimize it on my desktop and add to it every day.

Why?

I first learned about DONE lists in Bob Mayer’s e-book WARRIOR WRITER. While I do my DONE list a little differently than he suggests, I really like what he says about why you should do it: “Crossing something off a list isn’t quite as satisfying emotionally as listing something achieved.”

Pros

This is just another form of record keeping. When I get discouraged and think I’m not getting much done, I can look back at how much I’ve accomplished. If I’m beating myself up over a rough day and didn’t get much writing done, I can look at the days that I more than made up for it.

Cons

It’s another form of record-keeping. Yes, the very thing that can be to its advantage can also be to its disadvantage. If you find record-keeping tedious, then you might not want to add another thing to your list, and that’s ok. Remember, you have to find out what works for YOU.

Categories

I write EVERYTHING I do that is writing-related on this list. Just like my to-do list from last week, I also write down everything here. Things I include:

* Writing

* Revising

* Correspondence

* Submissions

* Writing class assignments

* Blogging

* Marketing/Platform Building

* Research on agents/editors

* Query letters

Obviously, I don’t cover every category every day, but chances are, I get to every category at some point in a week’s time.

 Follow-Up

Ralph Fletcher talks about knowing the task before you sit down. Since I don’t have very much time to write each day, if I dilly-dally, I don’t get much done. In Heather Sellers’ book CHAPTER AFTER CHAPTER, she calls setting up for the next day “Positioning.” At the end of your writing day, you position yourself for the next writing day. You set up what you will need and you know before you leave what you’ll be working on the next day. When you know what you need to do next, then you stay focused. In order for me to know what’s going to be first priority the next day, I write down a note to myself in the follow-up column of my DONE list.

Color-coding

I’m a visual organizer, as I learned from Kristi Holl’s new e-book, MANAGING YOUR WRITING SPACE AND YOUR WRITING TIME. I color-code. Once I finish that follow-up task in the follow-up column, I fill in that cell with a teal color. At a glance, I can see the teal cells that are accomplished tasks. The white cells stick out, letting me know that they still need to be done.

 Try it

Discouraged in how much you are getting done? Try a DONE list. While you might be discouraged at how slowly you are moving each day, you will probably find that you are inching your way toward success. Keeping a DONE list will help you see your progress.