By Julie, scurrying to make January goals!
Jessie told me about the Plot Your Work Planner a few months ago. I bought it, started to use it, and told Liz about it. The three of us are writing several books in 2018, so there are high hopes for the efficacy of this planner. We got several questions about it on a Wicked Wednesday a few weeks ago, so we thought we’d let you all know how it is going.
Jessie: I’ve been really pleased with this partucular planner. I attended a session at the NINC conference back in October about it and was delighted to discover that someone had done the work setting up a planner that addressed the unique challenges multiple deadlines present. I use additional planners for other parts of my life but none of them have really helped me to keep on top of large, long term projects with several stages.
Taking a full year look at how all the moving parts fit and don’t fit together has helped me to have more clarity and accountability about what I can expect and cannot expect to accomplish. A nice extra touch is the paper quality. I love to use fountain pens whenever possible and lower quality paper doesn’t take the ink well. This planner doesn’t allow the ink to ghost, feather or bleed. A total win in my book!
Julie: Jessie, I can’t wait to see you in person and walk through this planner together. I am finding my way in, but am not sure I’m using it “correctly”. That said, one of the things I like is that I can make it work for me. I’ve got the two books I’m writing, the book that’s coming out in August, and the book I’m noodling all in the planner. The prompts for different sections take on different meanings depending on the project. Like Jessie, I find the ability to map it out really helpful.
I also have to agree on the quality of the paper. I’ve taken to fountain pens as well, and there isn’t any bleed. I was also encouraged that they just came out with an A5 size for a travelers notebook, and sort of wish I’d waited. I will likely try that next, since the large size stays at home, and it would be nice to have it with me. For folks wanting to try it out, that may be the ticket.
There’s a Facebook page, and an Etsy shop. I’d recommend ordering from them. This is a writer’s tool that works, at least so far.
Liz: I really like this planner too. Although I have to say I let it overwhelm me a little bit. I haven’t used anything other than pencil yet because I keep screwing up! And I’m terrified to use the stickers in case I mess up…
That said, I love all the pieces it pulls together to get you organized. The weekly action plans are awesome, and you can track your habits, identify the top items to focus on, and even list gratitude lists. And it has lots of notes pages, which is especially helpful. When I’m about three-quarters of the way through a book I often have to go back and write out timelines for both main and subplots, and those always end up getting done in random notebooks that I can never find again when I need them. So this is solving that problem!
Very happy with it, and have to stop being afraid of it and take full advantage of all the benefits.
Readers, any other planners out there that have helped you wrangle your life, writing or otherwise? Leave us a comment! (But don’t tell Julie, because she already has way too many planners going!)