Pondering the Yearly Planner

by J.lynn | Dec 30, 2015 | Organizing

This happens to me every year at this time. I waffle through a bazillion organizers, planners, and systems in hopes I’ll discover THE ONE for me. THE ONE I’ll commit to in good times and bad. THE ONE that will keep me from stumbling through the next year.

THE ONE that will keep me focused and productive.

But, every year, I abandon the chosen beast for scraps of paper, Post-its, and a scrambled memory.

This year I even created a Pinterest board to collect and study the newest versions of the planning vermin. I admit, the colors and swirls of creative energy and blank pages are all enticing but I know what will happen. After selecting the most seductive planner and after a month of diligently scrawling To-Dos and Must-Dos and Must-Remember To Dos, I’ll fall into a rabbit trail and I won’t do.

And then I feel like an organizing failure which squelches my entire impetus for productivity planning in the first place–becoming the princess of organization.

Ah, the perils of planning the planner.

This year, however, I am taking a different approach based on my supposed strengths as suggested by StrengthFinders. Years ago I took the test and learned one of my strengths is ideation so I’m going to harness that power in two ways:

1. The Bullet Journal

I’ve decide to create a Bullet Journal. This is a simplistic modular organizing system more than a planner. Their tagline is “All you need is a notebook and a pen.” After several hundred hours of Pinterest indulgence, I realize I’m a modular visual type of gal.

They got me at “Note-taking and traditional journaling take time; the more complex the entry, the more effort is expended. The more effort expended, the more of a chore it becomes, the more likely you’ll underutilize or abandon your journal.”

Basically, you can use any type of notebook you want (or you can purchase their custom notebook which happens to be sold out right now) then follow their framework. You can mix and match the modules that best serve your needs–business or personal. Sure, it takes planning and a little more pondering than a published one-size-fits-all planner, but that’s the beauty of it.

Find more information simply search Pinterest, Google, or Youtube. It’s become quite a craze.

2. Trello

Secondly, I have created several boards on Trello. Trello is another modular system but it’s online. It allows you to visually organize your projects, tasks, and activities. Beware, there is a learning curve, which I must have attempted at some point because when I logged onto Trello, I found that I had already made an account. Obviously, I had abandoned it. Probably in favor of a paper planner, which I know I abandoned.

After taking another look at Trello, I liked what I saw so I watched a few tutorials. It wasn’t complicated to set up my first project board so I set up ten more. I think I’m in love. It’s modular. It’s visual. It’s drag and drop. You can even connect it to your Google Calendar.

Simply, you create a board, create lists, which you can modify as you like, then label task cards which you can drag and drop into different lists if you need to. Each card allows you to add checklists, add attachments, due dates, or color-coded labels. You can even add members to a particular task. There’s a free version and a paid version. Right now I am using the free version and I have found it to be sufficient for what I need. Here is an example of one of the boards I started:

I love being able to see the big picture of my blogging calendars and to move the To-Dos around at the click of my mouse.

My fear however, is that I may become obsessed with the planning instead of the doing. Seems I’m not the only one who recognizes this conundrum.

You see? For people who love to create and ideate, pondering the planner can be self-defeating in itself.

Oh, the perils of planning the planner.

How have you overcome your yearly planning task? What planners have best helped you? Do you even use a planner?

Fix those Fatal Flaws

by J.lynn | Dec 10, 2015 | Book Review

A Review of 5 Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing

It’s no secret that writers love to read about writing and editors love to write about writing. So when I was offered to review 5 Editors Tackle the 12 Fatal Flaws of Fiction Writing, I jumped at the chance. Because we all need to learn to edit brilliantly and to do that we need a blueprint to guide us.

C.S. Lakin, Linda S. Clare, Christy Distler, Robin Patchen, Rachel Starr Thomson have written a complete, fun, instructional blueprint from the point of view of editors who are also writers. This how-to-write book is different from the myriad other writing how-to books on the market in that these editors SHOW rather than just TELL. (And then they SHOW why the mantra: “Show. Don’t Tell” is not always the correct advice. They reiterate that you need to know the rules in order to break the rules.)

Each of the twelve fatal flaws are contained in their own chapter. Flaws such as: overwriting and lack of pacing and tension. Each contributing editor instructs the reader in a non-condescending manner expanding upon the previous editor’s insight and instruction then illustrating the chapter’s fatal flaw with personal samples from their own writing. They demonstrate how to strengthen scenes by fixing the fatal flaw in those segments.

This book caters to writers and editors who love examples. ME! You’ll learn about the Rule of Three for all the writing elements and you’ll learn how to search for Word Weasels, Talking Heads, and Floating Body Parts, in addition to the fatal “Cold Mashed Potato Rule.” I love the chapter ending checklists. You’ll want to print them out and keep them handy as you write or edit.

Look for the quotable nuggets of writing wisdom under the “In Conclusion” sections. Coming off a NaNoWriMo fail, I appreciate Lakins’s final advice to slow down. To “show words the honor they deserve and work with them respectfully.”

Think of this book as your personal writing coach that you’ll return to often because no writer wants the world to know that their first draft is garbage. Make ’em believe you naturally write brilliantly.

What’s your go-to reference book for learning how to edit?