So, no one told you life was gonna be this way. *clap, clap, clap, clap, clap* Your job’s a joke. You’re broke. Your love life’s DOA.
Is it possible the Friends theme song secretly describes writers?
Today, I want to revisit a post from my old blog, Almost Grown-up, to talk about some basic writing rules-of-thumb… with the cast of Friends. Because I think its proper home is here and, to be honest, any post with Friends references is a better post, in my humble opinion.
1. If you’re a pantser, like me, beginning a new draft can feel like this:
And that’s okay.
2. That can sometimes lead to a little of this:
But that’s what revisions are for.
3. The thesaurus is a wonderful tool! But be sure not to overdo it.
4. PACING matters
5. Get into your characters’ heads!
6. GRAMMAR ALSO MATTERS.
7. I know naming things is hard. But make sure the name suits the character (because saying the wrong name is awkward for everyone).
8. Don’t take ten words to accomplish what you could say with five.
For most of my life, I’ve been a big proponent of To Do lists. If you’re like me, you know that there is very little in life that is quite as satisfying as highlighting or crossing out an item on a To Do list. Marking it as complete. Accomplished. Finito.
But lately, I’ve chosen a different sort of list.
Here’s the thing: my To Do lists lately include large tasks. Things like “Write your next book.” “Finish narrating an audiobook project.” Tasks that can’t be easily accomplished in a day.
Sometimes, I think ahead. I break it down to “Write a chapter.” “Narrate a chapter.” But then an email will come in that needs my attention and I have to switch gears to work on that instead. Didn’t get to take something off my list there either.
All of this occasionally leads to me staring down at the day’s To Do list with too few items crossed off and a horrible, sinking feeling of guilt, bordering on depression, over it. Not the healthiest feeling in the world. And the need to feel good about what I do each day is why I’ve switched to making Done lists at the end of the day instead.
Staring down at a specific list of what I have accomplished makes me feel a hell of a lot better and often– I’ll be honest– looks a hell of a lot more impressive than what I didn’t.
For instance, here’s today’s done list so far:
Set up a ___ account
Return message about audiobook
Write and publish blog post
And I still have plenty of hours left in the day to add to it.
Have you tried making a “Done” list over the traditional To Do lists? Would you? And let me know which of them, if any, you prefer!