Stop adding writing to your to-do list

It's not working for you. Here's why + what to do instead

Photo by Annie Spratt on Unsplash

Consistency is not something that comes naturally to me. I’m a true-to-definition neurodivergent. When I lock into a project, it’s all I think about, burning the candle at both ends to solve every problem and get it done. I go hard, I’m passionate, I’m excited, I’m dedicated.

And then, at some point, the enthusiasm dies. I burn myself out and can’t finish, or maybe have just enough steam to push the project over the finish line but then I don’t have it in me to celebrate or promote it or really look back it at all. This thing I’ve been living and breathing just fizzles, a project of the past.

But you can’t write a novel that way. Or I can’t, anyway. My hyper-fixations don’t last that long, and even if they did, my husband and children can only tolerate me locking myself in my office every chance I get for so long. In the story of the turtle and the hare, the novel is the turtle. The hare might knock out a short story or a couple of poems, but he’s napping by the end of Act 1 and missing out on the finish line for the novel.

Enter “the to-do list” (and other systems that don’t work for long)

So, if it isn’t your everything, what is it? A line item on your to-do list, along with calling your health insurance company, shopping for new jeans, setting up an email list, and mopping your floors.

Now here’s the part where I come in with a disclaimer: if writing being there on your to-do list is working for you, stick with it. Because the only universal writing advice out there you should listen to is ignore writing advice and do what works for you.

But if you’re like me, your to-do list tends to be where you write down things you need to get done so you don’t forget about them. Or rather, so that when you forget about them, you will have them written down so you can look at your list and remember them. You might even keep up with it for a while, checking off the easy things and feeling a sense of satisfaction and self-importance every time you tick off a completed task. Then, eventually, you forgot about the list: you misplace it or that app stops opening itself on your computer so you forget it exists, or maybe you willfully stop looking at it because you’ve stacked up so many tasks overdue tasks that you just file that list away under “things that aren’t my business” like how the hair at the back of your head looks and the habits of rich and famous people (why do publications keep making these irrelevant lists?!).

From here, I like to go to ~a whole new system~ because obviously, the setup of the task list itself was the problem. A new app, a new notebook, a new you! I still have a reminder on my iCalendar every day to take my vitamins from testing out one such new system (a complete failure) which I see every day, think “yes, I should take my vitamin”, and ignore. Every single day. I should really figure out how to get that off my calendar.

If writing is on your to-do list, it’s getting lost when these systems breakdown. And not only that, but it’s also getting associated in your mind with mopping the floor and calling your health insurance and it becomes yet another task to resist, avoid, and defer along with the others if you’re a task-avoiding, procrastinating mess like I often am.

By the way, if you’re reading this and thinking good gracious, you are a mess, bless you. You are either neurotypical or medicated and either way, I envy you and the neatly pressed folds of your brain. This was not written for you, but I appreciate you being here nevertheless.

What to do instead

There is no one-size-fits all advice because our brains are all wacky in their own unique wacky ways, skewed by our particular cocktails of neurological disorders, childhood traumas, and medical issues, plus our individual needs and existing habits.

That being said, if you’ve seen a glimpse of yourself here in this rambling text, here are some things that might work for you: