What We're Writing Week: Julia's To-Do List

 Julia Spencer-Fleming: I'm at a weird point in the process of seeing a new book into the world (and you'll have to pardon any birthing metaphors I make; my oldest, Victoria, is having a baby this fall, and it's taking up a ridiculous amount of my brain space, considering I don't have anything to do with it.) 

At any rate, the words-on-paper portion of my work is done. AT MIDNIGHT COMES THE CRY has been edited, and copy-edited, and galley-edited. (This is why authors will often say they never want to think about their current title ever again.) I'll kick into high gear again sometime in October and through November, with, I'm sure, some events in December, because we all know books make the best holiday gifts, don't we? 

In the meantime, I'm left working on my To-Do list. It starts like this:

 

1. Have website rebuilt

    1.a  Research current best practices for author websites. What to                       include vs. what's too much? 

    1.b   Get recommendations of web designers

    1.c  Contact and interview web designers

But then I start thinking, wait - what do I want the new website to look like? Remember that discussion on author branding we had a couple weeks ago? Should I use the same fonts as my book covers? (and what are they, anyway?) Do I use pictures of moody Adirondack landscapes? Maybe small towns? Shoot, should I have something that reference the military in there?

So then I go back and start:

 

1. Determine branding - what message to I want to send to my readers?

    1. a  Who are my readers? 

    1. b   What are the three/four words they use for my work?

    1.c  Do I need a tag line? Is that old fashioned? Oh, crap, I'm going to               have to do more research, aren't I? 

And of course, if I have a brand new website, I want my social media - Instagram and FB - to reflect the same look.  Also, I'm terrible with posting regularly, and that's not going to fly with a new book coming out. I promised Steve the Marketing Guy I'd do a better job. So if I renumber the website stuff to 2...

 

3. Update social media with new headers, etc.

    3. a  Come up with a posting schedule 

    3. b  Don't forget to schedule time to answer readers, comments!

    3. c  What the heck to I post about?  

 

Now I'm thinking I'd better go back to 1. b and add in

1. b. 1  Determine topics based on description words for books

1. b. 2  Figure out what kind of photos and graphic work with the brand 

 At this point, I'm getting increasingly overwhelmed, and I haven't even touched on everything I need to do to revamp and relaunch my newsletter. That's probably going to be points 4 through 6 all by itself.

Honestly, dear readers, this is not what I thought I would be doing when I became a published author. (I also didn't think I'd still be changing the cat pan and mopping the kitchen floor after becoming a NYTimes bestseller, but the life of an author is much less glamorous than advertised.)

Do you ever get overwhelmed by the unexciting but necessary part of your work? And does writing out your to-do list ever make you want to recline with a cold drink, as it does me?  

Much To Do About To-Do! What Do YOU Do?

Hank's notebook

HANK :  Sometimes I look at mine in wide-eyed disbelief. How can anyone’s To Do list be that long? And then I laugh, and count my blessings, and say: the only thing worse than a too-long To Do list is an empty one, right? And I have to say that I cannot live without mine. I keep it in  a very old-fashioned way, in a spiral notebook. It's a running cumulative list, and happily cross things off as I get them done.  Page after page after page. 

(You know me, sometimes I will add something to the list that I have already accomplished, and cross it off just to have the fun of crossing it off.)

I carry my list around with me wherever I go. Sometimes, when I am overwhelmed with it, I make a sidebar page with the items I simply have to do today. 

Sometimes I write an actual schedule with hour by hour listings and what I have to do each hour. We all stay organized anyway we can, right?

(I save my notebooks, and actually look back at them from time to time, almost like a diary. And to pat myself on the back, just a bit. And to prove things can actually get accomplished.)

And doesn’t December add a whole new element to our lists? Suddenly there are gifts and cards and dates and parties and deadlines deadlines deadlines.

Do you have To Do lists? On paper? Electronic? Do you save them? How do you feel about them? And what’s especially on yours for December?

Debs' notebook

DEBORAH CROMBIE: Yes, Hank, paper!!!! I use a good spiral notebook and update my lists just like you do. And I do sidebars and arrows and underlining.  I've tried all sorts of digital lists and reminders but nothing works as well as the notebook. Not to mention that I draw and doodle in it, and when a notebook is finished, I have a record of what went on my life. And I keep them. The last one ran from December 2015 to September 2017. I also keep a paper weekly planner, Quo Vadis Minister, where I keep track of all sorts of things--an abbreviated diary. 

All this reminds me that I better start on the Christmas lists. Yikes!!!!

HALLIE EPHRON: I usually don't keep a to-do list and when I do, it's on a scrap of paper that I've scrounged from the trash. Mostly I use my calendar (paper) as a to-do list. I write in what I need to do, usually a few days before it's due. For Christmas I keep a gift list... not really to remind me what I need to get, but because I always forget what I've already gotten. As I get more and more stressed and overbooked, my to-do lists get neater and more compulsive.

Hallie's notebook

LUCY BURDETTE:  Oh you are making me realize what a mess my “so-called” organization is! I keep my calendar on the phone, where it syncs with the computer. However I also have this kind of list in piles of paper on my actual desk. (Scrap paper like Hallie's.) The one on the left is recipes to do for Mystery lovers kitchen, where I post 2 to 3 times per month. The one on the right has recipes, Jungle Red notes for my last week, and personal things. When something gets too messy or has most everything crossed off, I start a new one. And then there is the list on the bottom with notes to remember for the edits I just did on Death on the Menu. It’s kind of a miracle that I get most of it done! And as you can see, there is nothing about Christmas on the list...I better go remedy that.

Lucy's checklist

HANK: Lucy, I love the little boxes! 

DEBS: Hallie and Lucy, my mother kept notes and lists on scraps of paper. It was maddening, and the older she got, the more disorganized she was. She could never remember where she's written something down and she would spend hours searching for the right piece of paper, often in tears. So that made me very determined NOT to do that!  Everything goes in my spiral along with the to-do lists. Jungle Red ideas, notes on business, the estimate from the plumber, etc., etc., etc. And I try really hard to date everything so that it's easy to look up something later.

INGRID THOFT: I love lists, but I’m not consistent in the manner in which I keep a to-do list.  I’ve tried electronic versions on my phone, and they never take, but I hate having to carry a notebook around with me in addition to my phone.  Usually, the busier my life gets, the more I rely on a paper list, and there also seems to be a correlation with age:  The older I get, the less I remember and the more I need to rely on a written reminder.  I do have other kinds of lists like packing lists for certain climates and a shopping list that lives on the kitchen island.  I’d be lost without that list.  I’m curious, Debs and Hank, what kind of notebooks do you use to house your lists?

DEBS: Ingrid, I use a Mead 5 Star, 9 1/2 by 6 1/2 with sections. The current one is a lovely lime green. I also use a small one (4 x 6?) for grocery lists. Yes, I know I can make a grocery list on my phone, but I like to organize my lists to match the way the store is laid out. If I just put down random things, I always forget something. I usually jot the week's meal plans in this notebook, too, when I'm making the shopping lists. 

Uh, I'm not starting to sound a little obsessive, am I?

HANK: SO funny, Debs. I use Mead five star, too! (Here's mine, it's black.) Wide ruled, because my handwriting can get scrawly and I often insert notes on the notes, and there are little pockets in the back cover. Where you can tuck stuff that you later forget. I just found a whole page of postage stamps!

JENN MCKINLAY: I'm a list maker. I love scratching things off my to do list. I do find that I tend to roll my to dos to the next day and then the next until the to do  has got to be done THAT DAY. It's very dramatic and gets me motivated to actually get things done. Without a list nothing would happen in my world - ever. 

RHYS BOWEN: Another list-maker here. I always carry little notebooks with me. Sometimes I make lists on the back of envelopes. And cross off when something is accomplished. And every New Year's Day I open my special notebook and write down my goals for the coming year, what I was thankful for in the past year, and what I achieved in the past year. I cross off goals that I achieved and find that really satisfying.

HANK: How about you, Reds and readers? Are you list-makers? Scraps or notebooks? How many? How diligent are you? And what's on your list for December?