The Importance of Public Checklists

Lissywrites/ June 11, 2013/ Uncategorized/ 0 comments

It’s no secret that I am a fan, advocate, and lover of checklists. I make outlines for my plots, I make checklists for my day, I make grocery lists, and my blog posts are littered with list… something about lists just make me feel like everything is in order and that I’m getting stuff done. My problem?

I follow my lists 10% of the time.

But I’ve noticed a growing trend in the writer community – or maybe it’s always been a thing, and I’ve just been too busy making lists to notice – they post their lists on their social media. The writing community is well-known for being one of the most supportive of communities, and these checklists garner a lot of attention from the community.

If you’re even mildly interactive on you social media, more than likely someone will comment on your list in some supportive fashion. I even posted one of my checklists, and I was pleased to find that the pressure of putting it out publicly made me complete a majority of it. I say majority because… well, you’ll see.

Here is the checklist posted on my Google+ profile:

Here is the post about what was completed on my checklist:

Pie is my weakness. I can’t help it.

Regardless, by posting it publicly, it made me want to have something to show for it. I guess it’s sort-of an opportunity to brag about how amazing we are at completing a list… but it keeps us productive, right?

And in the end, that is what is important.

So, I will leave you my current checklist:

• Finish the first draft
• Edit the first draft
• Find a professional editor
• Get a cover
• Format
• Publish

This is a very vague and long-term checklist, which I think fits the blog format, leading me to my next tip:

Tailor the checklist to the social media format.

Twitter: Very short and specific
Facebook: Lengthier, but also should be specific
Blog: Lengthy and can be long-term
Google+: Lengthy, but should be specific

Basically, any social media that is hard to check archives (ex: Twitter. Almost impossible to find old tweets unless they are favorited), shouldn’t be too lengthy and should be able to be completed in a timely effort.

But there are no rules, and you don’t ever have to make a checklist. This was just a cool little topic that I’ve been mulling over for awhile.

Now, for my favorite part. What is your checklist for the day? Anything you’re willing to share that I can support you on? Let me know!

Thanks for reading!

-Lissy