I had been fooling myself into thinking that I was immune to the planner craze; that I wouldn’t buy a fancy file folder or spend hours decorating the pages. Then I found myself designing these stickers. My justification was that if I had a few cute, custom stickers, I wouldn’t spend so much time (oh, minutes and minutes) highlighting important notes and writing in weekly tasks over and over again. I was sold. Did I enable you too?
Briefly:
- ✎ The download includes one page of stickers in PNG format.
- ✎ My Coterie members also have access to the SVG file, so they can change up the colours & font. If you need the password, you can join here.
- ✎ I tried to keep everything lined up so cutting them out would be easier, and there wouldn’t be much wasted paper.
- ✎ You can get stickers printed at your local print shop very cheaply, so don’t worry if your home printer isn’t up to the task.
What to Put in Your Planner
(sticker opportunities!)
✎ Deadlines
Set one. And if you’re good at evading them, announce them to the world! Use the hashtag #writevow on Twitter and I will personally follow up on you to make sure you’ve met your deadline!
I’ll start:
I will finish writing The Steampunk Club by the end of the month or you may call me lily-livered! #writevow #amwriting
— ✍ Lady Writer (@EvaDeverell) March 27, 2015
✎ Drafts
I talked about editing in waves in a previous post. Editing is hard enough, but if you don’t have distinct drafts, not only will you end up with a confusing number of versions of your manuscript, you’ll probably be lost in making small corrections until you hate your novel, your life and perhaps (perish the thought!) even the act of writing itself. Distinguish between your drafts and set a clear deadline for each phase.
✎ Word count
Write down your daily, weekly or monthly word counts as a quick metric to judge your productivity. Especially if you’re participating in Camp NaNoWriMo next month!
✎ Writing dates
If you have writer friends in your area, why not go on writing dates with them? Arrange to meet in a cafe and have a word war. Or, if your writing buddies are too far away, meet on Skype or Google Hangouts. Don’t forget, you can join my write-alongs every Sunday at 3pm GMT, or watch any of the previous hangouts on demand. You can also participate in a word sprint or invite people to watch you write live (follow me on Twitter & you might catch me doing some this evening).
✎ Social media dates
Do a little every day to connect with your readers. Whether it’s tweeting what you’re reading, writing or blogging, or responding to emails. Here are a few Twitter hashtags you might want to note down:
#mondayblogs
#wednesdaywriter
#poetrywednesday
#tbt (throwback thursday)
#fridayphrases (#fp)
#followfriday
#TalesAndTea (run by @TheSprintShack)
#saturdayscenes
✎ Blogging
Today is for scheduling blog content! The month’s writing worksheets + a few longposts. #amwriting #amblogging — ✍ Lady Writer (@EvaDeverell) March 2, 2015
If you maintain a blog, block out a “blog day” so that you can get all your regular monthly content created and scheduled. I try to do this at the beginning of the month for my writing worksheets.
✎ Priorities
Before you get bogged down in to-do lists, pinpoint your writing priorities for the week or the month. Stick to them!
✎ Track progress
You can use the arrows as decoration, of course, but I conceived them as progress bars. There are 10 sections, so each represents 10% of a project. Colour in the blocks as you work.
✎ Achievements
Give yourself a treat when you reach a milestone, even if it’s just a sticker for a good day’s work!