Behind the Story posts will be about what goes on behind the scenes as a writer creates their story. I’ll be writing about my own writing process and sharing any tips or advice I’ve discovered on my own or gathered on the topic. Hopefully both readers and writers find these posts fascinating!This week’s topic:
Getting Organized
I love using planners. In college, the first thing I’d do after the first full week of classes is fill out a planner/calendar with all the due dates for the semester. Often things would be color coded. I liked to see everything all laid out in one document. I’ve gone through similar phases with blogging and planning out my posts for the month.
But here is my frustration: planners don’t often have what I’m looking for. Occasionally I’ve found one. I really liked a line of planners Vera Bradley made for awhile. But when I went shopping for my 2015 planner, I could not find what I was looking for. I like to have both a monthly spread and the weekly spread. For example, I want to be able to see the whole month of January and then immediately following a full calendar for there to be a smaller weekly breakdown. Apparently, I am alone in this desire because finding a planner laid out that way is a challenge.
So I resolved this dilemma by making my own darn planner. Right now it’s in a file folder, but I might move it to a three-ring binder. I wanted to share the pages I created in case this is a design that others may find helpful. Below are links to the PDF files.
This page features a write-in calendar, a place to list books I read that month, and a place to record my writing word count for the entire month.
This page features two weekly spreads where I can record:
- Daily word count
- Blog post published that day
- What book I am reading
There is also a spot at the end of each week to record what my biggest accomplishment of the week was. Sometimes we all need to recognize our efforts and give ourselves a pat on the back!
I love that I’ve been able to customize a planner for my own uses. And this was way cheaper than buying one!
Feel free to save or download the pdfs to use yourself!
How do you stay organized? Do you use a planner or calendar system?
Let me know if there is a “Behind the Story” topic you would like to see… Happy Writing!
Wordy Hughes 
That’s awesome you were able to make a planner that suited your needs/tastes! It looks great. I have a couple pocket planners; one is where I write down the blog post I’ve scheduled so I know what days have something and i don’t overdo one week or put two things on one day, etc. I then have another planner in my purse that I NEED to use for all the things i have going on, especially when I work and stuff. I have a plain notebook for class assignments; I used to have a planner for HW but all my classes are online now, so I just write out my homework for each week as I go.
-Lauren
http://www.shootingstarsmag.blogspot.com
I looked at pocket planners when I was out, and they were super tempting. I was actually afraid I might lose one because they are so small!
Sounds like you are super organized! I love that you even use more than one planner 😀