A few months ago, I came across this lady, Laura of "How to get your Shit Together," during my searches for a printable (free, of course and 'sides, why reinvent the wheel?) list of the KonMari Method of tidying on her You Tube channel. Cause, of course, we, as writers, sometimes get carried away in our "research" and that is by far the biggest time suck of our writing the next "world's greatest novel" in the J.K. Rowling sort of dream.
T'any rate, I watched all of her KonMari videos and glanced at her Planner stuff. Thought I'd skip this stuff as it never worked for me. I'd always start one or the other of the various systems available and whoa, stop doing these things as, well, you might be familiar with the process so I won't go into detail. Over the next few weeks, I ended up checking out her other stuff. Signed up on her Facebook page and gradually the idea of "Bullet Journal" entered my life. I like her style.
Then, I actually started a Bullet Journal after checking out various posts and stuff over on Pinterest. Which by the way, reminds me to post a link to my page over there in the event some of you may be interested in checking it out. I found out the author/originator of this system and yeah. I did the short tutorial and thought, why not? Ryder Carroll said it was simple and one didn't have to do all the fancy stuff so I just followed the advice on the Learn page.
I had an empty 88 cent notebook I'd bought to use for organizing my novel writing stuff. Started it and here I am, three months later, getting things done in a more organized fashion. Three months of daily setting of goals was enough to help me decide my priorities in life and how important writing is to me. So, I've gotten some tasks done, or started some, that are important to an author if one is serious about writing. Or publishing.
I'd already known about Business Plans, marketing and other stuff. I even registered with my state as a business. And there I stopped. As far as the business aspect of it went. All that research involved in "target audience," Competitive Analysis, copyright, trademark, and so on. Overwhelming, to say the least. Aspects of this writing life aren't my "cup of tea."
Got back into IWSG and here I am with that part of my reorganization of my life. Yep, Yep. I even put up a picture of my mother and her sisters on my lockscreen that has the added words from Marie Kondo's philosophy, "Does it spark Joy?" on the top and "What do I want to take with me in the future?" on the bottom. All in all, a more inspiring screen than Mic...ft's default picture.
Staying organized without getting sucked in is tough. Those bunny trails are so tempting.
ReplyDeleteA tablet on my desk works for me. I make a to-do list from most important/most pressing to least, and when most of the items are marked as done, I tear that sheet off, copy down the few things left, and start a new one. I wish more of the tasks sparked joy. At least striking them through does.
Oh, yes, the strike through. I have found that the notebook works best for me. I do use my computer for stuff. Having one place where all is organized without having to search through many files is the charm...main task for the day along with the routine keeps me grounded. I tend to overestimate the amount I can get done in one day.
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