Write A List

Every time things get on top of me, I end up writing a list. At the moment I'll confess I'm struggling to 'get the job done' so to speak. Time doesn't stand still and small people never stop wanting something. Luckily for me, half-term is looming so I'll get all that extra time to do lots of editing and writing.

Whilst wailing to my other half about all the writing tasks ahead of me and how I would ever get them all done he said, make a list.

Whilst panicking about how to wean my little girl, trying to remember what I did for my little boy, aghast at the cost of pre-made baby food, I decided to just stop. And write a list.

A week away at my mum's house. Packed to a list.

Buying Christmas presents for the family. Carefully adhered to a festive list.

Planning what to eat for the week. Wrote a list.

Lists are great. They let you empty your head and even when they become ridiculous fifty items long written on the front and back of an envelope, they really do help.

The thing with lists is that, for me, the very act of making them orders the thoughts in my mind. I write a shopping list because I need to think about what things I have to buy. But the very act of writing the list seems to commit those items to my memory and then the list becomes obsolete. Very often it travels in my bag and I don't even refer to it.

I have old lists which haven't been completed. I make new ones every day in my diary. Sometimes I get to cross several things off them. Most days I don't. Writing lists may not result in me 'getting the job done' but they certainly help me order my thoughts. And a writer needs her thoughts.


Claire Buss is a sci-fi, fantasy & humorous writer and poet, completely addicted to cake. Find all her books on Amazon. Join the discussion in her Facebook group Buss's Book Stop.