Writing Wednesday - Plans and Planners

It's that time of the year again. Time to set up planners. 

I operate on all levels in my life with my planners. 

That doesn't mean I can't do something else, but I really like routine and knowing what needs to be done or what I want to do.

I have been 'experimenting' over the past couple of months with some different ways to use my planner and make sure my plans and ideas are acted on.

One thing I have been doing over the past few months is using my Hobonichi Techo (the smaller one) to show what posts I am doing on what day. This has allowed me to preplan posts much more efficiently and to do follow-ups without forgetting about them. I bought the 2021 Techo just for that purpose since it has worked so well over the past three months.

But my main planner, my Hobonichi Cousin, is the one I have been tinkering with over the past few months.

I have been writing my schedule and Savvy's work schedule at the top of each day. This allows me to know when I can possibly plan a meal for the two of us on the days she might be off or off early. It also lets me know, if I have the day off, when I might be called upon to take her to work. I also mark out the time I am at work and the time I am in bed. That gives me a visual reference of my 'free' time.

Weekly I also track my steps each day, the posts I write and the books I finish reading or listening too. 

About a month or so ago, I watched a YouTube video by Sarra Cannon of Heart Breathings. I use her HB90 process for setting my yearly, quarterly, monthly and weekly goals to some extent - which I plan to ramp up.

Her technique is to have a master weekly list where she writes down everything that needs to be done during the coming week. Then on Sunday, her planning day, she goes through and assigns each task to a day and/or time. On the back of her weekly list she has a 'dump' for the following week and a miscellaneous area.

Because she uses a ring bound system, she can slip her list into the middle of her week. My Cousin is a bound planner and I can't just 'add' a page. So I have been trying a couple of different methods.

I tried about a month of taping in a page. While it worked to some extent, I didn't like it covering up my weekly spread. I like being able to glance at the whole week and see where I stand. So while I like the idea of the master list and future list, I didn't like it sitting in the middle of the week.

Then I tried attaching a smaller page to the side of the weekly page.

It was better in that the list was folded over to the side so I could see the whole week. But I had to unfold the page in order to see or use it. Plus it added a 'hump' to the side of the page. Good, but not great.

This week my layout is like this...

Rather than marking off the hours I will be in bed, I taped a strip of washi tape when that time starts and broke up the bottom into three columns for my areas I work in - writing, finances, personal. I put my tracker for steps, posts and books over on the side. 

Right now, Friday, my day off, will be for planning and writing (I hadn't put my little stickers on the page yet). 

I think this might be my layout I'll use into 2021. 

There are also daily pages in the planner. On those, I go into more details on what I want or need to do. Maybe a bit of journaling on them also. 

Another change is I have cancelled my CocoDaisy sticker subscription. While I enjoy their stickers and monthly decorations, I have a ton left over from this past year. So my plan for 2021 is to use up some of the old stickers I have a box full off. I do like stickers to add a bit of 'something' to my pages.

There is also a planner I have which is a repurposed 2019-2020 18 month Happy Planner. It is my writing planner. I started using it in November for NaNoWriMo, setting up a chapter a day plan. For December, I am tracking the number of words I write - both on my novel and on my posts. So far, for December, I have already written over 1800 words just on post writing. 

I do have an idea for continuing on Sanctuary. I feel like I have written and rewritten the opening chapters several times - at least mentally. Since I know how the book goes, I am going to start at the back end and work forward. I think 'starting' at a different point will give me a bit of a push to work on the book.

Now I have my planners at least basically set up, it will be time in the coming couple of weeks to do my goals for 2021. But more about all of that in the coming days!