To Do or Not To Do

Weekly Writing Prompt No. 81

Hello everyone and welcome to this month’s writing prompt. For anyone new to The Writing Shed, this is the core of my activity on Substack.

A writing prompt, for anyone who has managed to avoid them thus far, can never be right or wrong. Its only purpose is to help you exercise your creative writing muscle, and it does this by taking you out of your literary comfort zone. So dive in, try something new and above all have fun.

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A couple of weekends ago I found myself running a life writing retreat at the Othona Community in West Dorset. A recurring theme throughout the event was the topic of lists, more specifically the ‘to-do’ list and how to reduce the sense of failure it induces.

In the week following the retreat, the topic came up again with a client who, before our mentoring session, emailed me a list of everything she wanted to accomplish; this was after an earlier session where her main worry was feeling overwhelmed by everything she wanted to do.

In both cases, the list was entirely fictional, a set of actions that apparently must be done to achieve a desired outcome.

But first, let’s discuss the nature of the list itself. Broadly, there are two kinds of ‘to-do’ lists: the first keeps body and soul together and lists the cooking, shopping, laundry, appointments, bills to pay, libraries to visit, tasks for our job (if we have one), or activities with friends and family. These are the everyday actions of living in the modern world and probably don’t need writing down much of the time, but give comfort by creating a feeling of being organised.

The second is the list of creative dreams; like the book, the blog, the essay, the article, and the poem; the competition deadline, the agents and publishers to contact, and the marketing of ourselves and our work.

We use them both as a measuring rod for the success of our lives and a stick to beat ourselves with when we don’t tick the box or the bullet point accompanying them.

Both are works of fiction simply because we are the ones crafting them. Whether it’s in our head or on paper is irrelevant, the fact is we are (mostly) setting these goals ourselves and we can just as easily unset them too.

I often use the image of a courtroom to try and get this point across to clients. If you can, imagine yourself in the dock on a charge of not completing a task. Then look at the prosecuting lawyer, your defence team, the jury, the judge, the witnesses to the ‘crime’, and finally, the spectators in the gallery. When you look closely, you will notice they are all YOU. You are the one preparing the case against and the defence for at the same time!

It’s time to take control of the ‘to-do’ list so that you own it, rather than it owning you. Let go of the pipe dreams, the intangibles, the if only’s, and the shoulda, woulda, coulda’s. Remember it’s always YOUR list and it will always be a work of creative fiction.

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The Prompt

I have a writing ‘to-do’ list that consists of a book I’m working on, another book proposal I’m preparing and five essays that all need to be handed in by 6th January. Oh, and the monthly writing prompts here on Substack.

If you have one too the challenge is to create a work of fiction from the list itself. This prompt lends itself to poetry better than most I create so where might you take it this month? And, if it’s just another thing on your ‘to-do’ list, you are welcome to ignore it.

If you feel like sharing your thoughts please leave a comment as I’m always curious to read what everyone creates.

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If you are a writer who wants to manifest your writing hopes and dreams from the practical and pragmatic to the esoteric and spiritual, or who would like to clear any subconscious self-sabotage you may be experiencing, why not work with me? To find out more head over to my website by clicking the button below.

With love, light, and laughter
Linda
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(Image by Gordon Johnson from Pixabay)