how do you organize the someday/maybe list?

[wordsofwonder]

If I'm doing the things I need to do to keep the creative engines humming, then I will have more ideas than I could possibly act on in one lifetime.

You know, I didn't really think about that consciously before, but it strikes me now that this is a key realization. Creativity, especially if you've got your stuff in order enough to reach that place that David Allen calls "clear space" and Natalie Goldberg refers to by the label "Wild Mind", is a sort of generous abundance that continues to flow as long as it's not dammed up or blocked. As such, there are more ideas than any of us can act upon in a dozen lifetimes.

A consequence of this, for me, is a certain sense of serenity about my open loops. Although I really do need to track them and move them toward completion, I also recognize that I will die someday with loops open and stuff in my collection baskets. I will also die with non-blank Projects and Next Action lists, and with a non-blank Someday/Maybe list. For me, at least, this realization helps me to be more present in my day-to-day life.

-- Tammy

 

[smithdoug]

Notes to recall an occasion

Scrivener. Now that does look impressive.

Since Tammy and Katherine started us off on this tack....

Years ago, when I ran a publishing company—and when the tool of choice for office workers and writers alike was the IBM Selectric typewriter—I was inspired to buy my very first computer because of an author I worked with from time to time and his trusty Kaypro. The Kaypros were metal boxes about the size of a large suitcase with a keyboard that folded down from one end to expose a tiny CRT screen, probably measuring no more than 8 inches diagonally. (He would ask if I was still editing with scissors and a pot of glue and, if so, when would I progress to editing with electrons.) I can only imagine how many dozens of trips he made to destinations all over the globe with that Kaypro riding in the luggage compartments of airliners and bouncing down luggage carousels (Try that with your Dell or Vaio or Powerbook!) but despite the abuse he said that it never failed to work for him.

We had been talking for several months about a book project and when he finally submitted a formal proposal there was an overview, a bit of an outline and quite a number of pages of what he called “occasional notes”, vignettes of a few paragraphs to several pages each—all masterfully written—to give a flavor of what the book would be like. I had never heard that term before, occasional notes, nor since. He said it was an old method that writers used to use “to recall an occasion”. I do know that a lot of those “occasional notes” found there way into his magazine articles, of which he was a prolific producer. His occasional notes always struck me as a very fruitful exercise for writers especially who tend to tune in to just the right turn of phrase and rhythm of language from very early in the process.