Planner Changes, Writing Changes

January 25, 2021annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, lieblings. Monday’s post on Monday, because I have it in my planners (plural) and some things are about to be a little different.

We will start with my everyday carry planner. This is the one that lives in my purse. I promised myself that I would give myself a solid month to try the mini vertical layout to see how I liked it, and…I have issues.

Being one month into a new sort of planner means I’ve had a chance to know what works for me and what doesn’t. I was thrown at first by the new vertical format in a mini size. It’s okay, and I think I’m actually getting the hang of it, because this week’s spread, that one I like. What I don’t like is having to completely re-date every single page, every single time. Not saying that this won’t be something I’m into later on, but for right now, I want to keep my energy focused on the whole writing thing because 2020 was not great for it, and things are a lot better now.

Here’s where I’m torn: February is a gorgeous pale pink confection, which I adore. This would still require complete re-dating, but the dominant color would be pink, which works really well with me for February for all the Valentine-y, month of love stuff. Especially for a romance writer. Right now, I am looking at getting ready to see two different projects go to the editing phase, and the first draft attention goes to totally new stuff.

Well, not entirely new, as some of it is venturing into the world of linked books, which is still kind of new to me (as Drama King was indeed my first planned connected book) and the most important thing to consider when planning is figuring out how I can best make this work for me. Sometimes that involves trying a lot of different tuff and finding a lot of t hings that may not work the very best. It’s all part of the process.

okay, so this thing
:drums fingers on table:

Sharp-eyed readers may notice I haven’t mentioned my social media planner yet, because that’s one of the things that I am reconsidering. I found the skinny mini planner above on a deep discount (yay, end of January planner prices!) and fell totally in love with the watercolor floral theme, and I like the compact space for writing/decorating. I am probably going to fake plan in one (or more) of the expired weeks and see how that feels. I also may try putting social media back into the regular planner, or possibly some other arrangement. We’ll see.

Now on to the writing. This is the week where I get all of the pens and papers together and sticky notes and index cards and throw ideas out there. The Lion and Thistle has Sunday night Discord chats, and last night’s was themed around Medieval or Pirates?

Since my first medieval is now in the hands of an indie editor, I’m naturally thinking about what do I want to do for any connected stories in this world. I do have an idea of the hero for book two, an old comrade of the hero’s, but the heroine? IDK. Zip. Zero. Nada. Not. A. Clue. I want to meet her, I really do. Guy deserves some good love. Maybe it will all pop into my head when I get the edits back, because the right editor can make absolute magic.

Yeah, these guys. I started on a pirate story called Abandon some years back, and figured out when I was elbow-deep, that I was writing the wrong story, because the heroine’s parents kept taking over the story. As a dear writer friend pointed out during a chat, those parents have strong voices, and they really do need to come first. The whole trilogy is pretty clear in my brain, the only nebulous stuff the third book, because that heroine is the daughter of the couple in book two, and that feels okay. I need to let her grow up on her own.

Contrast that with the “ummmm” about the medievals. Part of my brain says shove those pirates way, way down and get through the medievals. Why do I have to “get through” a project? I do fully find a way to fall in love with the medeivals, especially finding my groove after a while away. Maybe this kind of thing is normal. Maybe it’s normal for me.

There is a very big part of me that wants to tackle all of it at once. Do I want to splash around in all of it and see where I naturally gravitate (and yes, I naturally gravitate to the things with deadlines) and let the priorities sort themselves out. We’ll see. There are only so many hours in the day, and things have to fit into all of the rest of life. That’s definitely one of the reasons I love planning as much as I do, and how much I love how it intersects with writing. Let’s see how it goes.

Planner Stack 2021, pt 1

January 11, 2021annabowling Leave a comment

Heigh ho, Plannerinos. The January clearance sales are a holiday all their own for us planner types, and when we are both writers and planners at the same time, well, then, it is the most wonderful time of the year. Almost a second Back To School, and exact6ly what we need for looking at the year to come. This year, one of my favorite blog or vlog topics ha been the planner stack. I love seeing planner stacks. Don’t care whose. I want them all. So, here’s mine:

Okay, it’s not exactly a stack per se, but I like files over piles, so this is what we get, and no, it does not live in the middle of the bed. I am mostly sticking to one color palette, but ignore the teal traveler’s notebook (TN) on the end: it’s getting switched to a pink cover for February. I almost switched it today, but we are burning daylight, and I already wrote and accidentally deleted this post, so moving right along. These are the girls.

My everyday carry planner for this year. This one lives in my purse. The cover is a Pen + Gear traveler’s notebook (TN) cover, and the planner itself is a gift from a planner friend. It’s actually a 2020 planner, so I am re-dating as I go. Not entirely feeling the blue planner cover, though it is definitely pretty, and I like the sentiment, so I may swap it out for another in the next day or two and see how I like it. The contents are basically the same information that goes in my catchall planner, only portable.

Catchall planner for the first half of 2021 is the same catchall planner as my last half of 2020, and even uses the same (re-dated) pages that I didn’t use for the first half of last year. The deluxe cover (gold cover from the group picture) I had hoped to get this deluxe cover in the berry shade, but the gold is nice, too, even if I’m not entirely sold on the mint -y interior. Might paint it, might try some decorative paper or fabric. We’ll see. I love the pockets for sticker books and storage for frequently used sticker sheets (like my favorite blogging and writing stickers) and the all important pen loop. Even more than that, having that cover on the planner feels a lot more solid and professional and right. I don’t think Happy Planner makes this format anymore, so I am now on the lookout for substitutes, and would especially love if I could find something in real leather.

Currently wrangling with my computer to cough up my historical romance planner (large berry cover in group photo) so we will cut to the camera shy morning pages book. Once again, Pen+ Gear TN cover and Happy Notes inside. I love Julia Cameron’s idea of morning pages, and I find my own version works super well to get my brain in gear. Some adjustments, though; I believe she has a different paper size than I use, and I have combined my morning pages with a daily planning page.

My favorite part of this is the top three tasks. If writing isn’t one of them (except on weekends) then something has to be rearranged. Seeing what specific scene, bit of research, chapter to edit, etc, helps a lot. Once I know where I am going, metaphorically, for the day, that primes the pump, and if I can’t think of anything I want to write for those pages, I can word vomit about my plans for the day. By then, I’m in the right mindset, and getting down to business feels like the most natural thing in the world.

Storm says that is quite enough blogging until we can retake the other planner/notebook pictures, so those will hopefully be here for Wednesday. There is still writing time before the family returns home, and we are burning daylight.

Re-Me-Ification in 2021, pt 1

January 4, 2021annabowling Leave a comment

Hello, Liebchens, and welcome to 2021. We made it. 2020 is in the rearview mirror, its planners packed away/recycled/burned in a bonfire/other means of nonexistence, and we are looking toward the future. For those of us in the planner community, that means showing off the new babies, aka planners, and not only getting all of our ducks in a row (or squirrels at a rave, as it may be; as long as my squirrels are all at the same rave, I will count it as a win.) I had originally intended to have today be a writing and a blogging day, but insomnia and resulting morning crash said today is blogging, because there is no benefit to piling on the pressure, when the work can still get done with some rearranging.

My purse planner (do I lose planner community points for not liking/using the phrase, “on the go?”) for 2021 is a gift from HappyChappy on Instagram. I’ve never used the mini vertical layout before, so was a little apprehensive, and I’ve never redated a whole planner (this was originally a 2020 planner, but S0 Pretty, I don’t care) I was madly in love with last year’s planner, which had a lovely, classy floral/naturey/cozy theme, and a dashboard layout, but I was also madly in love with the first min planner I had, which had a horizont5al layout and really no theme, but rather colors. The lesson here? I will adapt. Also, as soon as I put in my Rong Rong page finder, this planner felt like home.

we are going to call the gauzy effect intentional

Chances that I will eventually pick a different dashboard (blue plastic thing that holds my sticky notes) are high, because bright blue is not my thing. I have two aesthetics when it comes to planning: dark/gothy/classy and pastel. There are not many points in between.

Really into winter pastels at the moment

Still working on that. I am also getting more into DIY-ing my planner stuff for 2021, which makes a lot of sense, because it’s all part of getting my collective squirrels to the same rave. It’s especially true when it comes to writing, which is why I am trying two new things for the writign squirrels.

I do not have a photo of my writing planner, as that is still a work in progress, but this is the first year I am trying a social media planner. Part of that is researching what the fluff a social media planner actually entails, and as I go into my first full week of actually using said planner, I have to second guess myself because I love my social media planner (antoher redated 2020 mini vertical) but want to add a notes section and this puppy is already full, with just the pages that came with it, and stickers and such (I love decorative planning) is only going to make it fuller.

I have already filmed a partial flipthrough of the general setup :salute: of this planner, which will go up as soon as I finish editing. Getting back to video blogging is another goal for this year, and makign my topics more far-reaching that only what I, personally, am doing, delightful as I am. If the notes section gets too big, I may either move half the months into storage and go nuts with the notes, or use a second notebook for notes alone. We will see how that goes. I will keep you updated.

Originally, I had wanted to show you all the regular notebook page where I had scribbled down my goals for writing and blogging for the coming year, but A) technical difficulties say the photo I took is no bueno, which is fine because it was super fuzzy and kind of personal(ish) and B ) you know what they say about laws and sausages. Maybe it’s the same with planner pages. Says she who has been binge watching planner videos for the past umm, while. Yeah. That happens. A lot. So does watching romance oriented Book Tube videos, because, well, romance.

Then there’s writing. Hoo boy, there is writing. The last year was not great for writing, but now, it’s different. We are in a lovely apartment, Real Life Romance Hero and Housemate both have jobs that take them out of said apartment, and that means I have time where the only other living being in my space has four legs and is prone to day napping. I think…I think I can work with this.

There’s always a temptation to dive into “new year, new me” thinking, but I’m more of the type of “new year, more authentic me.” How can I be me-er? Well, I’m a writer. Writing would be great. Telling the love stories that I want to tell, telling them until they are told, and getting them into the hands of readers, who will give me monies for them, because planner supplies and Sims expansions are not free. Planning is one of the tools that helps me get to a place where that is easier to do.

Planning is definitely not the only thing (if only it were that easy, and full of stickers) so there will be some rambly wanders along the way. Company is most assuredly appreciated.

Planning Home Stretch

December 28, 2020annabowling 4 Comments

The week between Christmas and New Year’s is my favorite week of the year, not only beause it’s my beloved tucked-away week, but also because it is the most wonderful time of the year for planner aficionados like myself.

This week is when planner people have only mere days to get their planner systems together, pick or refine themes, acquire the materials, and put the whole thing together so it will be ready to roll in the new year. I wasn’t able to do that in 2020, but this is a whole new ballgame we are looking at, so I am very happy to be back in this particular saddle.

So, what planners do I want for 2021? I’m figuring that out as I go. Until 1AM this morning, I wasn’t sure what I wanted to do about my catchall planner, but then my penchant for organization provided the answer. I’d started my classic Glam Girl Happy Planner in July of 2020, so January through June were as yet untouched. Score. Glam Girl rides again as my cover, and I love that because it’s gorgeous.

The week in progress. Send sticky notes!

I am still setting up my everyday carry planner, a Happy Planner mini that lives in my purse, but I am pretty darned proud of my first try at a social media planner. I definitely want to keep a better hand on my social media this year, find out what’s fun for me, and concentrate on those thing. This may or may not incorporate a writing tracker, but it is the subject of my very first flipthough video. Link to that when I have it all sorted out; you’ll hear it here first.

I had a first draft of this post written out in longhand, all ready to transcribe, but over the last couple of days, I wandered my way into getting the whole thing a lot more under control than I had thought I would in so short a time. Like with many other things (like writing) with me, that involves running down the metaphorical dock at top speed, shouting “Ronkonkoma!” (family version of “cowabunga,” etc) and cannoball-ing into the midst, then figuring out how to swim to shore. Then I make a map for next time.

So far, where I have landed is this, each of which will get its own post:

Catchall planner
Everyday Carry mini planner
Mental health tracker/journal
Reading tracker
Social media planner

My main writing notebook is still in the gooey amorphous blob stage, which is perfectly understandable as I currently have tunnel vision to get the three scenes needed to call it on a rough draft of Drama King. Melva has done her part, and as soon as I am done with these, that means we can move on to the editing stage, which I kind of love. I may be breaking the writing stuff into two sections, historical, which I write on my own, and contemporary collaborations with Melva Michaelian. The division makes sense in my head, so we will see how that goes.

No matter how things shake out plannerwise, know that they will all be conducted under the watchful eye and fuzzy butt of one Storm Bacon Truss O’Malley Hart-Bowling. She has declared herself planner inspector emeritus, with a particular interest in whatever I am currently neeeding to use most.

Okay, the minutes I have of alone time at the computer are ticking away, and I have a scene to transcribe (when I am done with the first draft of Drama King, I can dive back into the whole Her Last First Kiss draft thingamaboodle. Super excited about that.) Talk amongst yourselves, or to me in the comments. How are your planner plans progressing?

Summer Planning, Part the Second

June 10, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

All rightyroo, time for the part two of my summer planning lineup, drifting into the world of notebooks. Let’s take a look at the lineup we’re dealing with here.

Back to front, we have a mini Happy Notes, mini Happy Notes journaling notebook, and micro Happy Notes, which has gone through a lot of incarnations and will probably have a few more before I figure out how it’s best suited for me.

nothing says commitment like a new notebook

This notebook is technically from the wedding collection, but I’m using it to write romance, so that’s actually appropriate. I am a longhand first type of writer, and this size, 4.5 x 7 inches, hits the sweet spot for the story stuff that falls out of my brain and onto the page. It lays flat, fits in my purse, and I love the feel of the paper.

Since we’ve been vagabonding, I have fallen, hard, off the bullet journal train, and as with anything else, the longer away, the longer the road back. Still, as I’m herding cats to get my stuff back together, I do better with structure, so back to bujo it is. When I saw a Happy Planner set up for bujo users, I had to give it a try. Still figuring that out, but take a look at the first thing I made in it, my TV tracker. (TV being Nexflix, Hulu, etc)

these viewing choices may say something about me

The boxes were preprinted on the pages, which went a long way into helping me figure out what I wanted to do with them. I will probably let the other boxes on other pages lead me. Not all the pages have boxes on them, so we will see what I do with those.

Mu latest plan for the micro size is that I may use the first section of it (I made the dividers myself, as well as the pirate-y page finder) is to use them for my daily plans, as my current mini planner ends at the end of this month. This is as far as I have got to date. Right now, the only thing I do with those pages is make a plain bullet list, which is functional, but not me, so the quest continues. I do have another micro notebook, that I use as a Sims journal, where I need to take pages in and out on a regular basis, as I use it for rotational play.

Phew. This will probably be it for the notebook/planner show and tell for this month, but as a dear aunt often said, never say never. We’ll move on along to what goes inside the notebooks, namely writing and notes on reading, because writing in these notebooks about what I’m reading and writing brings up some interesting patterns, and is a big help in crystalizing what I want to be doing with my writing life. We’ll get to that later.

Summer Planning Part the First

June 8, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Welp, it’s that time of year again, when last year’s eighteen month planner is about to be over, and this planner enthusiast comes to the inevitable question, what’s next? This is already both exciting and frustrating during the best of times, but throw in 2020? Yeah. First world problems, for sure, but in stress times, planning is my happy place, for writing and family life alike. Add to that the fact that we are still vagabonding, and that adds a level of difficulty…and the need for planning in the first place.

Last year, I flitted around from traveler’s notebooks of various sizes to ring bound planners of various sizes, was snotty about Happy Planner, because plastic discs. Then I got two Happy Planners for my birthday, and the snottiness (in that aspect) dissipated. I really do like this size, this format, and I even came to find my own comfy zone in the horizontal format. The only thing I didn’t find was a 2020 18 month planner to replace it.

This is easily remedied, because a) I have alternatives, b) I know how to make my own, and c)trying new things can be fun. So can dusting off old stuff that I can’t stop thinking about. As a subscriber to several Instagram accounts dedicated to planning, inspiration is a daily resource, and this time of year, my brain is tuned to blush pink. Which describes this A5 size planner from Carpe Diem.

This is probably my favorite ring bound planner, because of the color, and I like the way it feels in my hand, plus the rings inside are gold, not silver, though I usually like silver better. This way, though? Love it.

Okay, this needs some explaining. The pages you see here are actually from inserts in a different planner (Agenda 52?) that were already outdated when I bought it, but I didn’t want to let them go to waste because pink, and with only a little bit of correction tape, a little washi (the month is not listed because I know what month it is, and may change inserts for July, anyway) boom, back in business. Which is what I am going to need for wrangling the three ring circus that is family and writing and day to day chaos.

The page finder is actually back to back paint chips from Home Depot. They’re the right size, the right shape, easily hole-punched (I have not yet tried with punching for any disc bound systems, but I will try that in the future.) and cuts down on waste, so win. If I like the way my planner looks, if it feels like me, I am more likely to look forward to using is, and stick to what I write in there. I don’t know yet if I am going to switch to the A5 for my everyday carry, since it is larger than the HP mini, but being back in the binder that made me go all heart-eyes the first time I saw it feels right. Other sections are set up to be a reading tracker and some…sort…of…writing…tracker (more on that later) and there are a couple of different types of art paper in another section, just in case.

Ever since October, I’d been in my same classic Happy Planner, which was bright, fun, empowering women illustrations, and I love it. I also accidentally packed it and now have no idea where it is. This gives me a chance to try a different theme and layout, plus the discs in the Glam Girl classic are metal (lavender metal, super pretty) and it’s makeup themed, and I think we will get along together rather well. The other two are Happy Notes notebooks, though the one with the leaves is actually the cover to a Homebody mini planner, though I swapped its cover for the Homebody Happy Notes cover. So, planner cover outside, notes pages inside. That’s for morning pages, and some writing notes.

Not sure what I think about that green bit up at the top, but I will figure it out. I like the color scheme, and if I count down three lines from the green part, I can neatly divide this layout into my preferred vertical. Vertical pages are also good for plotting, which is going to come in very handy as I put up the framework for the next few projects. I do a lot better with a roadmap (I will plan anything, seriously) if I want to get from where I am to where I want to be going.

Speaking of which, off to adult for a while, and then I come back to play with my imaginary friends (aka write) and then I am allowed to Sim. Stay tuned for part two later this week. Much writerly planning stuff will ensue.

Typing With Wet Paws: Au Revoir, Chez Grandmere Edition

May 8, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Tails up, Storm Troopers! I’m Storm, you’re awesome, and this is Typing With Wet Paws. Not very much on the writing or reading fronts this week, because Aunt Anna and Aunt Linda were taking care of the whole closing of Chez Grandmere thing. The aunts went to the house without me, if you can imagine that. The nerve. To their credit, though, they did make sure that they put my blue chair and my headboard in storage, so that they will be ready whenever we move to our new apartment. One time, they were gone overnight, and I was not okay with that.

The second time, they came back on the same day, and Aunt Anna crashed hard. Of course I did the only logical thing and kept her company, right by her head. Uncle Rheuben told her I spent a lot of time in the adventure cave, my not so subtle hint that when she goes somewhere, she is supposed to take me. Honestly, humans can be thick on this sometimes. They are back now, though, which is what matters. Aunt Anna is pretty sure that the cat condo that Grandere’s cats, Michelangelo and Francesca, had (they went to Rainbow Bridge a while ago, after they maxed out on their senior levels) either was given to friends or the bedbugs killed it, because it was not anywhere in the house, and believe me, they were all over that place. Aunt Anna says I will get a new one when we get our apartment, so I am fine with that. I like climbing and jumping to high places.

Not sure there is much to report on Aunt Anna’s Goodreads challenge, since this week was mostly Chez Grandmere stuff. She does mean to make up for that, though, and part of that will be going through the books she rescued from Chez Grandmere last week. Here is one trilogy she can’t wait to re-read. It is the Rose trilogy, by Laura Parker, and each book is set in a different era. Aunt Anna likes that kind of series, a lot.

Aunt Anna has also hit that phase where she starts bringing out the blush pink planners and notebooks, because as much as she loves black, it is spring going on summer here. She very much likes her discbound planners for actual planning, so the question now is how to use those other things, like ring binders and traveler’s notebooks. She is actually looking forward to that challenge. Here is one binder she liberated from stuff jail (aka storage) when stashing all the boxes from Chez Grandmere:

This is the book Aunt Anna is currently reading in paper (she is reading others on her Kindle) and the author, Jeanne Hines, is also one of Aunt Anna’s favorite historical romance authors, Valerie Sherwood. I don’t think Aunt Anna has read any of this author’s gothics, so she is very interested to see how she likes them. Hunting them down should be a challenge, but she is always up for that kind of thing, and yes, she will talk about it here.

The notebook is an A5 size binder, by Carpe Diem, Aunt Anna has tried to use it for a couple of different things, but none of them ever clicked, so she is going to try again, by focusing on the aesthetics. That means pretty stuff. Which obviously includes me. She figures that is a good place to start and the rest will grow from there.

Next week is the writing week, as Uncle Rheuben should be starting at his new job, so it will be just me and Aunt Anna in the daytime. After a week of long car rides and hauling boxes around, she is ready to deep dive into the clickety clack of the keyboard and putting her imaginary friends to work.

There is indeed a new Buried Under Romance this week, giving more details on the buried treasure of a hidden cache of romance novels at Chez Grandmere. I should point out that I was not allowed in the basement, technically, but I did once make it halfway down the stairs. I will have to be content with that. Or do I?

Headbonks!

That Time of Year Again

April 22, 2020April 27, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Even though the calendar has said it’s been spring for a while, and even though this is probably March the Blur-ty Second, my sure shift occasions happened a couple of days ago. I was getting into Housemate’s car for a grocery run, and that’s when it hit. Time to switch out my everyday carry (EDC) planner. Can’t force these things. They happen on their own.

Since fall, I have been using and loving my black Pen + Gear B6 travelers notebook cover, with a mini Happy Planner for guts. Still looking for my B6 mojo, insertwise, but that’s another story. For planning, this works. I’ve been carrying it in my burgundy tote bag, the fall and winter version of my beloved blush tote, which I will be busting out of stuff jail as early as the end of this week. Carry burgundy faux-suede in May? Perish the thought.

First world problems, definitely so. Not saying that having anxiety and depression and being in between permanent addresses during a pandemic is a picnic, but the fact that I am having strong opinions on stationery and stationery accessories, well, I am going to file that under signs of life. The more chaotic life becomes, the more I want to organize it.

For my EDC, this will probably mean slipping my HP mini out of the black cover, sliding it into the blush one, and moving over decorative ephemera. My current planner, last year’s eighteen months version, ends in June. I will replace it with a new 2020 mini, with different layoyt, and th current cover (and some dividers) will find their way back into the black cover, with filler paper in place of planner pages. Et voila, notebook.

These things work best for me when they happen organically (odd for planning, but it works.) Forcing them generally does not work at all. Funny enough, there are similarities to writing. I would like for there to be more writing, and there will be, and one day I will look up at the screen or down at the page, and the most recent line will read “the end.” Huh. How’d that happen ? I

Bit by bit, usually. One step at a time. Days when scrolling blankly through Facebook or Overdrive are the pinnacles of productivity, and says when writing hits a roll. Neither, in my experience, is anything I can force, but things like “time to switch covers” or indie pubbing book x makes sense, ” those show up when they will, and give a solid foundation for the next phase.

Springing Forward

March 12, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Spring is not usually my favorite season. It still isn’t, but a new season is a good time for a new start, and, after seven of the craziest, weirdest, hardest months I have ever had, it looks like the light at the end of the tunnel may not be a train. Not that there aren’t still question marks, because there certainly are, but fewer ellipses (… -= those things) so I am going to count that as good. I have every faith that we may soon be nearing the end of our vagabond days, and I am very much ready for it.

On the fifth of March, we have been officially between apartments for seven months. Longer than I had thought or expected, but also, we are, as Skye would have said, badbutts, because we are still standing (cue Elton John) and, as Mr. Rogers’ mother said, looking for the helpers is always good advice. Storm is a travel kitty extraordinaire, and I have become far more adept than I ever thought in breaking down a desktop computer and reassembling it in another location, and knowing for sure and certain that longhand really is the best way for me to compose.

Writing, yes, can be done anywhere (seriously, anywhere) but the part that goes beyond composing, the transcribing, the editing, the polishing and submitting and/or planning out an indie pub (independent publishing, where the author is also the publisher) strategy, those things need a home base. It’s getting there. Before too long, there will be a new location for Stately Bowling Manor, a new office to move into, books to bust out of stuff jail (aka storage) and set into place. Time to know and declare that the new normal is now within reach. Not here yet, but within reach.

Which comes to the often sticky part of writing, finishing. When I first started writing romance, a starry-eyed seventeen-year-old with an electronic typewriter and a dream, of course I could finish a book. A lot of books. Now, I could be the parent of a seventeen-year-old, with some wiggle room. (I am not. Real Life Romance Hero and I decided early on that all of our kids will have four legs and fur.) Life and writing are not always that easy. That girl with the stars in her eyes and correction ribbon on her fingers had read once that Valerie Sherwood wrote twenty pages at a session, so okay, that’s a normal pace. The more seasoned writer now also remembers that Valerie Sherwood also said that any writer who says they write thus and so every day is lying.

There are days when the words, when the story, don’t come, and life has proven that, in heaps. There are also days when they do, and those are the days that I want to nourish. This past weekend, spent at Chez Grandmere, I took an outdated planner I inherited from Housemate, and ripped out the guts but for the monthly dividers (setting aside the unused guts to repurpose as plotting charts) and cutting down plain white office labels to cover the names of the months, and now it’s my general writing :salute: notebook/planner.

Writing each area of focus on each label – historical romance, contemporary romance, blogging, Buried Under Romance, Patreon, even “paper” (one can never have enough filler paper) — felt…good. Right. A few weeks ago, I posted on Facebook that I had a finger hovering over a stock image on a cover art website, because the couple in it? Could very well portray John and Aline from A Heart Most Errant. My first thought when I figured out what I was thinking was, “Anna, what are you thinking?” because, well, vagabond days. Vagabond months. Independent publishing isn’t cheap. I have never done it before.

Hm, though, but have I? In the intro to my “Play In Your Own Sandbox, Keep All the Toys” workshop, I mention that I spent well over a decade amongst Klingons, Newcomers, Immortals and others, not only writing for fanzines, but also, in time, publishing my own. I didn’t know what I was doing back then, either, when I started on that (huge props to my friend, the awesomely talented E. Catherine Tobler, who did a lot of very patient hand holding and talking me down from ledges of various heights) journey, so, maybe…cannonball? I don’t know.

What I do know is a page a day is a book in a year. I know I don’t have to reach every reader (and can’t, and shouldn’t) but only my readers, who are going to respond with, “please, miss, may we have some more?” The answer I want to give is “yes, of course, here you go.” I know I am too fond of italics and need to brush up on my comma use (thankfully, my contemporary cohort, Melva Michealian, has a PhD in English, so odds are I am going to catch on sooner rather than later.) There comes a time, and I think this is it, as my finger hovers over cover stock, and I have sussed out to get myself as bottom of the line webcam, because starting somewhere is better than not starting at all.

Which all feels pretty on-brand for spring. New life. Things blooming. Baby ducks. Baby ducks make everything better, and if we end up somewhere near Washington Park once more, there will be baby duck pictures aplenty. Even if not, there will be stories. That’s what I do. That’s who I am.

Plan as We Go January

January 6, 2020January 6, 2020annabowling Leave a comment

Hey. Hi. Hello there. Here we are in the second week of January, first full week, and for those of us who are into the whole planning thing, this is the big show. This is where the rubber meets the road, or rubber cement meets the paper. At the very least, where the pen meets the paper. While some aspects of planning tick all the tried and true boxes, this year, there is also some uncharted territory.

Last year, I waffled between ring binders and traveler’s notebooks (rings vs strings, the eternal struggle) and was admittedly snobby about discbound systems, including but not limited to Happy Planner. This year? I am actively designing my own discbound planner. Probably printables at first, because manufacturing these things is far outside my pay grade at the moment, but the fact that I am researching tools and costs and components, that’s a very new thing.

That kind of makes sense, because this year is full of a lot of new things, so doing new things the old way is probably not the wisest approach. I have one notebook for current projects that are active: my contemporary romances with Melva Michaelian, my historical romances on my own, and the uncharted (for me) wilds of starting a Patreon. How much time do I have, how can I best spend it, and what has the chance of being a decent return? Since my chosen field is that of commercial fiction, there is a real chance that the right answer is “ahaha, none of it,” but it could also be “never try, never know,” and that’s the view I naturally take.

2019 was, in many ways, a dumpster fire. That’s in the past. 2020 is only six days in, and the better I plan, and carry out those plans, the better I feel. It’s not so much finding a system that works for me so much as creating it as I go. That means paying attention wo what comes naturally versus giving myself headaches trying to shove myself into some sort of box that I think I’m supposed to do. Beginner’s mind is essential in endeavors like this.

What seems to be working best for me when I start a new notebook or planner, is to carry the thing around, empty, for a few days, and then take note of what I wish it had inside it. Using a system that I have never used before, aka discbound, fits well with that mindset, at least for me. I love that the pages aren’t stuck in place, and if I want to move something to a different section, or a different book, I can do that, no problem.

Yesterday, Housemate came to the conclusion that she is a mini size Happy Planner person, and gave me her classic size planner from last year, mostly unused, and the classic size Happy Notes (same system, notebook paper instead of planner paper.) I sat there, looking at them for a minute, with a little bit of a Christmas Morning feeling (what planner geek doesn’t want this sort of thing dropped in their lap?) before I started to think about possibilities.

What was I going to do with a notebook that has twelve sections? Well, take the old planner pages out, obviously (and set them aside because there is this cool tutorial by Sarra Canon) and then stare at the empty tabs and think about what I want to have in there. At the moment, I’m thinking it could be a catchall for future projects that are still in the idea stage, where I can put notes, pictures, etc, as they come to me, and then they’ll be there when it’s time to actually start the writing.

That’s the thing that’s newest about how I want to approach writing this year. It’s time to Get Stuff Done, push past the Hypercritical Gremlins as best I can and remember what it felt like to throw the movies in my head onto the page, without paying attention to what could go wrong. That’s still kind of scary, but it’s scarier to think of never getting the stories and characters who are as real to me as people I can see and hear and touch, and introducing them to readers.

Since I do well with this kind of structure, my plan (hah) is to focus on one slot per month to give a closer look into what I’m doing, planning/notebook-wise. Some of that may end up on Patreon, and we’ll figure out what works, together. One area I’m keeping in focus for this early stage is to record the ideas that I’ve been carrying around for a while, that I would like to see all the way through. Something tells me I may surprise myself along the way.

How about you? What systems do you use for reading or writing? Pull up a chair in the comments, and share.

Typing With Wet Nails

for the love of romance

planning