Mightier Than The To Do List?

My "To Do" list is at war with my writing time.  And the last couple of days, the list has been winning.

That is a problem I need to solve, or the butt to chair momentum that I've had going will disappear.

How do other writers do it?

How do you let go of the "to do" list and put writing time at the very top, when you know there are dishes to be washed, laundry to be done, rooms to pick up and the myriad of other things that call out.

Gretchen Rubin, author of The Happiness Project, had a great post recently regarding fake work, make work and carving out real writing time that got me thinking about this.  I tend to be the sort of person who comes up with excuses to not sit at the page, unless and until I have a firm deadline in front of me.

When I was doing political blogging, I had to write every single day, because I had new content that had to go up...every single day.  And I wasn't just writing for me, I was writing for all the folks who read the blog daily, the people I worked with, elected folks and journalists who read as the news cycle moved forward at light speed.

With a novel?  That immediacy isn't there, that public deadline isn't there, and I'm finding it harder to resist the call of the "to do" list, although I think mostly it's because I've been feeling like working on the novel is for me, and the "to do" list is for my family.

I have to change that mindset.  Writing is for them as well -- I'm happier when I'm making progress on the page.  I'm frustrated and cranky when I am not.


And, as my husband says, "when momma isn't happy, no one is happy."  Too true.

So tomorrow?  I'm putting writing at the top of my "to do" list.  And I'm going to work up a deadline schedule for myself, so that I have little goals to meet every day, every week, until I have finished.

For the writers out there -- and editors, current or former -- how has this worked best for you or the writers you know?  I'd love to hear what others are doing as I struggle my way forward in this.

When I'm working "for" someone else, because I'm the sort of person who is a people pleaser, I find it far easier to make the work happen.  How have you gotten past that, if that is an issue for you?  There can't be one answer only on this, so please toss in your two cents.

In the meantime, I'm going to get a little writing in before The Peanut's bedtime...


(Gorgeous shot of a Montblanc Dumas nib via 2careless'.  Having a little fountain pen envy.)