TO DO LISTS

I mowed an acre and a half of land with the push mower today. Gassed it up and went to town. I'd been putting it off, waiting to finish my books, hoping it wouldn't grow anymore this year, but damn, the cabin level was 6" high and the lower level was at least 10", more in places. I hurt like hell, but at least I accomplished something.

Not that it was the only thing I did today...

This morning I got up at 8 A.M. and proceeded to go to work on SLIPPING, a short story I was asked to write last winter, centering around a dream that a friend of mine once had. By noon I was done. Now I have to read the thing to make sure the 3 chapters I wrote today don't contradict the four I wrote last winter. For me, it's not the doing that's hard, it's the getting started that kills me.

I've always hated beginnings. I don't know why, but when something important needs to be done or begun, I get this feeling of dread. I mean, I've learned to work around that feeling, but sometimes I wait until the last possible moment to get 'er done.

My workaround is the good old fashioned TO DO list. I make a long list of things I need to do, then if I accomplish 80% of it in two or three days, I make another list and put the things I didn't accomplish at the top.

I do the same thing with my writing. I make notes and add them to my writing TO DO list, such as: "fix paragraph 2 on page so and so", or "dig up notes on blah blah blah".

For reluctant starters like me, the TO DO list is of major value. I make mine at the end of my writing day if there are things I need to do the following day. That way there is no confusion when I sit down at my computer in the morning. I know what has to be done.

Sometimes I have two or three lists running concurrently. Writing, chores, and a shopping list. I stick the shopping list in my pocketbook, tape the writing list to my monitor frame, and as I drink my morning coffee while my computer boots up, I look at the third list and try to figure out how many chores I can postpone until tomorrow.