I recently wrote a blog post for DIY MFA on parental figures in classic children’s literature (stay tuned for my new column for DIY MFA on writing health and wellness, starting in July!). One of the characters who taught me a lot about work ethic is Ma Ingalls from the Little House books. In Little House in the Big Woods, Laura Ingalls Wilder describes Ma’s system for chores: Monday is washing, Tuesday is ironing, Wednesday is mending, etc. It seems likely that many pioneer women had a similar system for making sure weekly chores got done, on top of the daily chores such as cooking meals (all from scratch, no Chinese takeout) and taking care of livestock (cows need to be milked every morning).

Although I’m fortunate enough to live in an era where chores take up significantly less time, I’m intrigued by the idea of assigning a specific day of the week for a certain task.

For example:

Monday: Blogging

Tuesday: Social Media management

Wednesday: Short Stories/New Fiction

Thursday: Personal Essay

Friday: Query Letters

Saturday: Clean-up day

“But Leanne,” you might say. “What about my Big Project? If I don’t work on that every day, I’ll never get it done.” Consider your big project a daily chore, as milking the cow would have been for Ma Ingalls. What you do every day is the most important; therefore, schedule it first. The weekly rotation is for projects that you can take your time on. Maybe it’s something new that you want to dip your toes into. Maybe it’s something you don’t need to work on every day, like querying or writing a guest post. Maybe it’s something you know you should do, but don’t enjoy, like looking for new connections on Twitter. In that last case, it can help to know you only have to do it once a week. Place it on the day when you feel most motivated, and follow it by a day you particularly enjoy. Laura Ingalls said she liked the baking and churning days best. It’s okay if you enjoy some days more than others, as long as it all gets done.

What do you think? Would a “pioneer list” work for you? Leave your opinion in the comments!