A Listicle of Listicles by Carolyn

My writing sisters and I have each committed to write a listicle for this round of blog posts. As you might suspect, a listicle is an article in the form of a list. I encounter listicles most often in magazines ("The Top Ten Things to Do When You Visit Cape Cod"), but they certainly live elsewhere, made famous (at least to me) on late-night television talk/variety shows ("The Top Ten Reasons We Love/Hate So-and-So").

Last weekend I discussed this writing assignment with my younger son. He is an excellent collaborator when I need to generate ideas, so I seized the opportunity to talk through this with him while I had him captive on a road trip.  Between the starting point and the ending point of our journey, we brainstormed quite a hefty list of possible listicles! Now the problem becomes not, "What can I possibly write about?", but "How do I choose what to write about?"

So, taking the coward's way out, I present my listicle of possible listicles (in no particular order except that this is how they fell out of my head onto the paper):

The top ten . . . 

• things I've learned since turning 50
• things I've learned as the parent of grown children
• things I wish I had done
• things I wish I could still do
• reasons I miss my mother
• reasons I miss my grandmother
• careers I might have enjoyed
• jobs that should exist but don't
• jobs of the future
• things I would spend money on if I had any
• moments that make my heart beat faster (in a good way)
• types of women I would like to be but am not
• reasons I should have been a cowgirl
• reasons I love my job
• parenting mistakes I made
• qualities I am looking for in a soulmate
• reasons I'm glad I live in Texas
• reasons I love Ireland
• holidays that should exist but don't
• things I used to do but am too cautious to do now
• best bumper stickers I've ever seen
• physical traits I wish I had
• physical traits I am very glad I don't have
• most significant moments of my life
• best ranch names
• talents I wish I had
• streets I don't want to live on because they have stupid names
• dissertations I could write based on life experiences
• words that should be in the dictionary but aren't
• most beautiful words in the English language
• stores that should exist
• restaurants that should exist
• theme parks that should exist
• childhood pastimes that have pretty much disappeared
• championships that should exist
• names I'm glad my parents didn't choose for me
• life lessons I have learned from obsessively reading/watching/listening to Pride and Prejudice

If you have read this far, you probably have the potential to create a list of possible listicles for yourself! In fact, I challenge you to do just that. You may find it strangely addictive. Post your ideas in a comment here on our blog. Or, if you don't particularly relish the idea of writing a listicle, but you have a deep desire for me to actually write a real listicle about one of the topics above, please feel free to indicate that as well.

Now, my writing sisters might feel that this is not a "real" piece of writing, but I beg their indulgence just this one time - I cannot pick just one!  :)


Thanks, Kyle, for being my sounding board.