One of my favorite books
(now long out of print) was called "A Treasury of Tips for Writers"
edited by Marvin Weisbord. In it, a number of well-known writers shared
their tips for doing interviews, organizing material, etc. I loved that idea
and would like to use it here every month. Let me know if you have any Tips
Topics you'd like to see covered.
BSher
said:
To-Do lists are a joke for me. I write a list on any old piece of paper and
lose it almost immediately. When the list shows up later, however, I find that
I did everything I wrote down! I think the act of writing puts the thought into
my brain, like a suggestion under hypnosis, and somehow I remember to do it.
So I just keep writing lists and losing them. Obviously they work anyway.
Objects put in my path are a better way to make me remember. I'm a real dreamer and I tend to forget to pick up items from the market when I go out to walk the dog, so I tape things (like a coffee filter, for example) to the doorknob or stand things (like an empty milk bottle) in front of the door so I can't get out the door without remembering. If you come to visit me you might see some strange stuff: a check taped to the doorknob or a shopping bag full of books I'm getting rid of. I don't bother explaining anymore.
When I'm on a "walk-about" in my apartment (that means putting things back where they belong before they swamp me) I do something similar: I put everything near the door of the room so I can pick it up and carry it to the right place next time I go through that door.
Rebecca
said:
I work at an office so I keep everything in a computerized organizer. I have
a list of things to do, and when I check them off they go away, otherwise they
come up the next day and the day after that...I have many repetitive tasks that
I do weekly or monthly and they're programmed to appear repetitively as needed.
This works here because I have my computer on all day; and rarely get distracted
by other things so I just keep looking at my list to see what I have to do next.
It gets very boring, let me tell you. Life by list, and all that. At home, I
forget things.
Robert
Bly (author of many articles and books about how to make a living by
writing) said:
(I paraphrase because I can't find the reference right now) He keeps 3 To-Do
lists: one for what he has to do today, one for what's coming up in the next
weeks and one for long-term goals he has set for himself -- and he looks at
all of them a number of times each day.
To see more tips and to add some of your own, go to http://www.barbarasher.com/ubb/Forum1/HTML/000904.html
In the next issue I'll start a different Tips Topic of the Month. (I'm working up a nice file called "How to Learn Anything" with some great tips from medieval teachers!)