Item from Work in Progress by Kat Mackenzie
The handwritten list Alice made after drunkenly booking the tour — a mix of practical goals, emotional first aid, and one very specific prohibition about kissing British men.
The list is Alice's central motif — the thing that represents both her need for control and her slow, terrifying process of letting it go. It starts as a coping mechanism: if she can organize her disaster into bullet points, maybe it's manageable. Items include 'crawl out of pajamas,' 'get over cheating ex,' 'have first real adventure,' and the famous 'Definitely do NOT kiss any British men.' As the tour progresses, the list evolves. New items get added that she never would have written at the start. Old items stop mattering. The list becomes less about controlling outcomes and more about recording the person she's becoming. By the end, the list she actually lived is more interesting than the one she wrote.
Handwritten on whatever paper was available after several gin cocktails. The handwriting starts confident and gets progressively more emotional. Some items are crossed out and rewritten. The ink is smudged in places that might be tears or might be gin. Each chapter of the book opens with list items as epigraphs.
Also known as: The List, Alice's List, UK Bus Trip Goals