Monday, March 16, 2009

To Dos

Posting my lists of things to do has led me to a helpful discovery: What I expect to get done in a given time period is not equal to what I actually can get done. What I expect to do in one week generally takes me two weeks.

At work, I've had to start estimating the time a project will take before I start, in order to give a cost estimate to clients. That's a harder task than I thought at first, because stuff comes up and things change. But I'm getting better at it, and I'd like to apply that ability to my writing goals as well.

Why does it matter? Well, psychologically, it's nice to get done what you plan to get done.

So, this week, I plan to:

Finish chapter 3 of my novel. That's it.


Back burner writing tasks to keep in mind:
* Revise The Rest of Her and send it out
* Keep sending out Cartes as publications open their submissions
* Look into freelance opportunities that I've emailed to myself.

Non-writerly to-dos in the near future:
* Hang paneling in office
* Paint office walls
* Buy lights for office
* Start seedlings Best Blogger Tips

2 comments:

A page of rain said...

Yep, I always overestimate what I can achieve too! I have started a monthly submission plan, with no more than one or two things to finish each month. I am also setting myself the achievable task of writing for just 20 minutes most days. It feels so much better when you can tick things off rather than feel like you never finish anything.

Writer Bug said...

Glad it's not just me! And writing 20 minutes a day--that's a very impressive goal, which you think of as easy!