Writing practice: lists

As a reader, I’ve always enjoyed the list form. Something about enumerating and expanding with little elaboration—the brain plays along. I prefer unnumbered, unranked lists. Once ranking starts, the capitalistic bent rises to the surface. And the magic boils off.

So I propose—for myself and for you—the list as a writing practice. It works whether or not there are ideas already in place. List of states visited, list of people you knew before the age of ten, list of roommates’ treasured objects, list of things that don’t really have to be made out of plastic, list of everything blue in the room where you are now.