Plan the Work, Work the Plan - Part 1

Source: Pixabay.com

When Work Wisdom Shows up in Bible Study Part 1

 Working in the corporate world for my entire career, I've been exposed to no shortage of workplace wisdom. I've seen them all. Those bold photos of eagles, parachute teams, and lonely trees on rocks with small print mottos below the photograph. You've all seen those 1990s office decor staples.

One motto I've heard for years is "Plan the work and work the plan." I've always associated it with health and safety plans and applied it to other work plans but always strictly related to my day job.

That was until my Bible study on Proverbs when "you need to plan your work and work your plan," slid out of the leader's mouth. That made me think about how to apply this to my everyday life and my writing life. This study is teaching me that Stephen Covey had nothing on King Solomon when it comes to workplace wisdom.

In reality, I have been doing this for a long time. I just never thought about using that phrase in any context outside of my day job. The Bible study inspired me for two Writer's Life posts. There are two parts. One where I excel. One where I do not.

Plan the Work

This post is about the one I've got nailed - Planning the Work. I love a good planner. I've been using one since college although they've evolved over the years. It started out with a Mortar Board Planner, which I learned is specific to my Alma Mater. 

A copy of this bad boy was my first planner
Source: http://purduemortarboard.com/archive/

A Mortar Board is basically a standard spiral bound weekly planner, which would be my go-to for many years after my Franklin Planner phase inspired by that Covey seminar. Yes, I have Outlook and have cycled through electronic devices from a Handspring Visor to my current smartphone. But I still need a paper planner.

What can I say? I'm a writer. I'm a to-do list girl and at times juggle a number of meetings and switched to a daily spiral planner, then a Moleskine one before I tried bullet journaling (too much work). Last year, I tried a larger format binder themed for writers and creatives. Ugh! I loved the concept but didn't like the size. Also, it was geared to a full-time writing/creative professional. I needed something small that worked for a writer with a day job, two busy teens, and church activities.

I found the Legend Planner. It's kind of perfect. I love the size of the weekly planners I've been using and became especially fond of the hardbound Moleskine planners and Leuchterm dot journals. The goal setting and holistic life approach of the large format creative journal was something I knew I needed once I had it. The Legend planner combines both.

I had to make one tiny tweak. There are 8 life areas where you fill in goals and rate your performance each month: Health and Fitness, Career & Business, Finance, Personal Development, Family & Friends, Romance & Relationships, Fun, Recreation, & Hobbies, and Spiritual. Because my husband and I do Finance together, I turned that one into Writing. You could also adapt Romance & Relationships (to me that really overlaps Family & Friends) or maybe use the Hobbies one. If you're a writing professional, of course Career & Business is there for you already.

Source: Amazon

Of course you have to actually plan the work and work the plan. I guess this will be a 3-part series.

Do you have a favorite planner? If so, tell us about it!

Writer's Life: Planners Not Quite to Plan (Kimberly)

Hey everyone! Last year I wrote my first post on the two planners I was intending to use. This year... Let's talk about what happens when even a specialized planner doesn't quite work for your organization style.

Last year started off with grand plans to use two specialized for the working author planners to get my organized chaos approach to something a little more structured. I had the super detailed, everything under the business sun planner from Audrey Hughey and the more streamlined planner by my friend and now fellow blog contributor, Rachel Rossano. I tried to use both of them instead of my fill in a day planner only approach. I learned something very important - the everything under the sun super detailed in minute breakdowns including things I would never think about being in a planner approach in Hughey's author planner is great and efficient...IF you compartmentalize your schedules and to do lists to that extent without feeling stressed.

I also learned that I do not fit the above description. Being TOO structured in my to do lists doesn't work well for me due to both personality and the unpredictability of having a chronic illness. Chronic illnesses don't tend to respect the planner. So I wound up setting that planner aside and not getting another one for this year because it didn't gel with my process.

I did better with Rossano's streamlined planner especially since the weeks were undated so I could work around flare days without feeling like I was wasting chunks of a dated calendar (one of the other reasons dated planners don't fit well with my needs). That's a good thing to know as I move forward and work on streamlining my method for tracking my schedule and to do lists. The benefit of experimenting with planners is you find out what does and doesn't mesh with your style and personality.

So when super organized planners don't quite work as planned, that is okay. Like the variance in plotters, pantsers, and everyone in between, your planner approach doesn't have to match that of other authors. If you're like me and super planners are overwhelming or too structured for the more fluid approach you need, then I recommend getting an undated streamlined planner. Going the undated route allows you to work around non-writing days (or weeks) without feeling like you've wasted a schedule or overly pressured to do SOMETHING writing related when your day isn't allowing for writing moments. A streamlined writing planner will not have all the bells and whistles associated with the business side (like accounting or weekly reviews) but includes space for basics such as blog post scheduling and newsletter dates or swaps. It's a simplified balance between the writing and the business side of an author's schedule, which is something I personally prefer. Especially when my schedules tend to be very fluid unless I put a book up on preorder.

If your planners aren't working quite to plan, be flexible! Pivot to adjust and accommodate a more forgiving schedule. For me, that means undated planners and plenty of buffer included for scheduling deadlines. How about you?

Until next time!

Kimberly

Planning 2020 (Kimberly)

Planning 2020

Hello all! How do you plan your schedule? Is it completely detailed or perhaps you have a lot of floating/vague dates more along the lines of "maybe this quarter"? Scattered dates and checklists all over your house or at least your desk? Or one centralized master planner to rule them all?

Honesty moment, I've spent a lot of time being one of the scattered planner people and as I get further into my career, I find that doesn't really work for me. Whether traditionally published or indie, there's a lot of things beyond just hitting word counts we authors must track. There are various stages of the writing journey to reach publishing or submission deadlines, newsletters, blogs, social media, and also ads if that's part of our marketing plan. Add in your life outside of writing and things can quickly become overwhelming, chaotic, and a stressful mess of missed project dates and goals.

I've used regular date planners in the past, but they don't always click due to how much of both writing and business I need to track. So, this year I decided to try something new. I picked up The 2020 Author's Planner by Audrey Ann Hughey, an indie author who definitely understands there's more than just writing to track through the year. We're not very far into the new year, but I'm already loving this planner!

One of the two covers for the planner. Photo from Amazon.com.

The planner is aimed at consolidating the creative and business sides of being an author. What I especially love is the first page of the introduction urges you to be FLEXIBLE. Planners shouldn't be carved into stone, which can often be a downfall leading to author burnout because the author made every deadline immovable. However, planners with the cushion of flexibility can really help streamline and destress your author life whether you're a plotter or a pantser.

Some of the unique features of the Author's Planner are the sections aimed at clarifying our vision/goals for 2020 including the following: 1) agent submission and query tracking for those pursuing traditional or hybrid publishing, 2) reading list for business and pleasure, 3) income and expense tracking for each month, 4) a marketing plan ranging from publishing dates to visibility growth, and 5) a social media calendar. One of my favorite things is how each month begins with a reflection on the previous month and what did or didn't work before launching into the plan breakdown for the current month. Then the weekly calendar maintains a broad focus beyond just word count, which I love. You can make goals ranging from writing to editing to visibility, notate your writing buddy for the week, track the number of pitches you're sending out, and also address wellness goals and life priorities.

Now if this sounds a bit TOO organized and overwhelming for your needs, there are other planners that cater to author needs. One of my friends, indie author and designer Rachel Rossano, has just released her own all-in-one Writing & Marketing Planner. This is the kind of planner you grab if you want to easily track both marketing and writing without feeling bogged down by a bunch of extras. I haven't ordered this one yet. However, it's already moving to the top of my list for next year's planner picks because it's more streamlined while also organizing both the creative and business sides of the job. What I love about planners is that we can play around with them and experiment until we find one or two that's just the right fit for our lives and business styles.

Cover Photo from Lulu.com.

When I sat down at the end of the year to assess my 2020 goals, I knew better organization was going to be a major factor in my success. I've done the make your own planner and used word count oriented planners in the past, but this year I wanted something more structured that had room to coalesce my writing with the business side. Two of my priority goals are to publish a minimum of twelve books this year and to broaden my marketing focus, which would be difficult to achieve without being intentionally organized. Being scattered interferes with my focusing abilities, so I'm already benefitting from using more author oriented planners and I'm looking forward to seeing how the rest of 2020 unfolds.

What about you? What planners are you using this year? What made you choose them? Any trips or tricks for planning your year? I'd love to hear about them?

Until next time!
Kimberly