Wicked Wednesday – Planners

Welcome to our first Wicked Wednesday of the new year! Today, we’re talking planners – a topic near and dear to a lot of our hearts (yes, Julie, I’m talking to you).

So tell us, Wickeds – do you use a planner? If you do, what planner out of the million options did you choose this year? If not, why? And how do you keep your life straight if the answer is no?

Edith: No planner for me! But I do rely heavily on my Google calendar (personal and Book Stuff versions) and my upstairs and downstairs paper calendars. For years I’ve been buying a wonderfully compact (6″ x 13″) Tibetan Nuns calendar for my office. It hangs right above my laptop so I have a visual of my month. Look how tidy January still is! Above it is my homemade three-year calendar, with nothing but book due and release dates, so I have a visual of that, too.

Liz: Under Julie’s influence, I’ve tried so many planners over the past two years and really liked all of them! Unfortunately, I haven’t really stuck with any of the them. And they started feeling like another job and if I missed a day I had to go back and fill it in….anyway, it was stressing me out. So I’m going into the new year planner-less, but I’ve sketched out a new schedule to fit everything in that I’m going to put on my phone calendar and see what happens.

Julie: I confess, I am a planneraholic. This year I am starting the new year with my Google calendar, of course. I am also using (and have been using, so hopefully it will stick) an Erin Condren vertical planner for every day, an Erin Condren deluxe monthly to keep track of the social media, webinars, etc. for my two businesses, and an Hobinichi Weeks for my gratitude journal, and to keep track of books, theater, movies, and inspiration. On January 7 I am doing a free webinar about Making Time for Your Artistic Life, and yes, I’ll be talking about what I’ve learned from my planner obsession.

Jessie: I love planners too and use two every day. I have one for my personal life and the broad strokes of my business. This is the third year in a row that I am using a planner for that by Ink and Volt. I love the way it sets each day up as morning, noon and night rather than in hourly increments. For the business side of life I use Your Best Year by Lisa Jacobs. It is really great for getting clear on what I need to do and why I don’t always make a priority of the most important things.

Barb: I’m in the two planner world, too, both paper. My Levenger Circa junior notebook with the monthly calendar tabs runs my life. Behind each monthly tab are my “chrono notes” from that month–to-do lists, notes from meetings and conference calls, grocery lists, party plans, etc. I have the filled out calendar pages and the notes going back literally decades. About ten months ago, I also started using the Plot Your Work planner. I find it very useful for getting an overview of the year. It was illuminating seeing how much time is taken up by conferences, appearances, teaching classes (and prep for such), support for book releases, copy-edits, page proofs, vacations, and so on–i.e. how much time I really have to write. (Always less than I think.)

Sherry: I’m the least organized of all the planners in this group. Life however is forcing me to be more organized. I keep notes and reminders on my phone. So far it’s working. I’ve bought a couple of planners but they just sit on the nightstand gathering dust. My daughter gave me the notebook in the photo. It’s empty too. And in case it’s hard to read it says: There are seven days in a week. Someday isn’t one of them…do you think there’s a message there for me?

Readers: Planners, calendars – paper or online or both – or none of the above? How do you keep track of what you need and want to do?