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: Writing Derailed and 3 Steps to Reclaiming Your Momentum (Katie)

 Writer's Life: Writing Derailed and Reclaiming Your Momentum (Katie)

Show of hands--how many of you have ever had what's known as writer's block? I'm not talking about a little bit of writer's block. No, what I'm really referring to is the major derailment of your writing mojo. 

While I am definitely going somewhere with this, let me start by telling you a story. In 2016, my family experienced a major life upheaval. It was a lifechanging event that shifted the course of our lives forever. Since that time, I have struggled to create. Writing became hard where it once had been easy, and nothing I put together seemed to be right.

The desire to write mixed with my guilt at not actually writing was extremely draining on my emotions. Earlier this year, I made the decision that it was time to put my writing aside for a bit. I recently completed my teaching degree, and I decided to put all my effort into teaching for the foreseeable future. I even spoke with Laurie here at Lands Uncharted to let her know it was time for me to step away from the blog. In fact, this will be my last scheduled blog post with Lands Uncharted, but I hope to visit from time to time in the future!

I am SURE I cannot be the only writer who has experienced this type of writing derailment. 

A Turning Point

Once I had settled on these decisions, and forgiven myself for not being able to create, the most wonderful thing happened. My writing mojo began to ink back into my life. 

I have picked up an abandoned manuscript and made tremendous progress with it. I've begun browsing writing-related websites the way I did in years past. I've even considered attending a writer's conference, which I thought I would never do again. 

So again I pose the question to you. Have you ever faced a major writing derailment? Do you want to get your momentum back but don't know how? Here are a few suggestions that might help you the way they helped me.

1. Give yourself some grace

It can be kind of a joke, but adulting is hard. Living is hard. Life can be H-A-R-D. That grace you'd give to someone else? Save a little for yourself. Your manuscript will still be here. Trends come and go, and your big chance will not pass you by forever. You have permission to take a break.

2. Strongly consider cutting back

It was a difficult choice to step back from Lands Uncharted. Beyond blogging, though, I have also been involved in endorsing several books in the last couple years, as well as critiquing manuscripts for friends. I have stepped back from those things, as well. It was not easy to say no, especially for those who have been very kind and caring to me over the years.

But the truth? The truth is those kind and caring people all understood. (They gave me that grace I mentioned earlier, you see.)

3. Refocus and take off the pressure

Deciding to focus on teaching took pressure off my creative side and refocused it somewhere else. I honestly did not realize how CREATIVE this would make me feel. 

I am now looking forward to the New Year and what I *might* accomplish (NO PRESSURE!!!) It isn't a chore or a requirement, because I'm not setting any goals for myself. While I completely understand the importance of goals, there are times in life where a different strategy is needed. That's what I'm talking about here.

If you have any other tips for getting back your writing momentum after a major life setback, please feel free to share them below. In the meantime, I wish you all a Happy 2021. I will miss contributing to Lands Uncharted on a regular turn, but I'm sure I'll see you all around 💛💛💛. Happy New Year!

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

Top 3 Essentials for a Stress-free NaNoWriMo (KaLyn)

To NaNoWriMo or not to NaNoWriMo? 

With NaNoWriMo coming up next month, it's a hot topic around the interwebs. But not everyone has the desire to participate - and that's okay. To each, his own.

However, if you do want to participate NaNoWriMo, then I want to encourage you by sharing a few strategies for enjoying the challenge and avoiding the stress.

• Set your own goal - Challenge yourself? Yes. Push your boundaries and seek to grow as a writer? Yes. But do it in a way that works for you. You don't have to aim for 50K words in thirty days. You don't even have to focus on one writing project. You can be a Nano Rebel! Feel free to embrace the spirit of the challenge on your own terms and define a goal that works for you. 
• Connect with others - Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, the beauty of nano is the comradery and accountability. Check out the various online and in-person opportunities to connect with other nano'ers.
• Stock up - This isn't just about snacks and writing supplies. It's also about inspiration, motivation, and fun. The point is to create an environment that infuses your writing process with joy. For me, that's coffee, notebooks, pencils, devotions, and crazy socks.

Will you be Nano'ing? If so, how do you prepare?

Don't know what NaNoWriMo is? Learn about it here: https://nanowrimo.org/about.