Keeping a Planner

Switched things up from horizontal to vertical SMC. Using @interrobangdesigns gingerbread kit and @paperandgumption winter wonderland kit which is oddly fitting for the week. Happy planning! #interrobangDesigns #plannergirl #prgirl #planneraddict #plannerlove #plannerpeace #plannernerd

A photo posted by crescentgaia (@planningwithlizzy) on Dec 5, 2016 at 9:06am PST

That, for everyone interested, is my personal planner. I decided to take a picture of it because I really liked the way it turned out and instagram account. It's a mix of planner stuff and Cookie, so feel free to follow away. But I'm not here to just talk about decorating your planner.

Keeping a planner is two fold for me. It holds what I want to get done but it also shows my progress. For example, I'm dragging my feet on MoD 2 because I'm in the middle of the book before the second climax. It also shows, if you go a few months back, that I was dragging my feet on editing too. I'm going to try not to drag my feet in 2017 but we'll see how well that goes down.

I highly recommend keeping a planner for the same reasons that I said above. It doesn't have to be fancy - you could pick something up at the Target Dollar Spot - but you should keep something that shows your progress. So you can go back at the end of the year, which does come up in a couple weeks, and assess where you are. You can see where you could make changes and figure out what might be best for the year ahead. So it's something you might want to gift yourself for Christmas and you can get the Erin Condrens at a Staples near you if you want the fancy planner.

Until next time, keep on writing and try your hand at planning. 

The Art of Chaos

Let's admit it.  We all live in some type of chaos.  I'm not talking about out right mess, but we will get to that in a moment, but I'm talking more about the chaos of everyday life.  The traffic jam that you get stuck in on your way to work that makes it so you barely clock in on time.  The fight that you have with your family member / significant other / best friend that is about nothing yet there's something clearly wrong that neither of you can put your finger on.  The good chaos is there too.  The getting a project done at the last moment that you think is rubbish but your boss or teacher praises to the high heavens.  The making a wrong turn and finding a new way home that takes five minutes less than the route you were taking.  There's good, bad, and neutral chaos, just like there's a load of other things.  What we really need to do is figure out a type of balance to it.

When I think about chaos, I think about messes, so let's go to that example to flesh out what I'm talking about.  I admit that my room is an outright mess.  I have things here and there.  Some are in piles and some things are on a shelf.  Some are on the floor, because there's no other place to put them, and some are just in boxes throughout the room.  However, I know where things are because, to me, it is organized chaos.  I know that the pile to the right side of my desk has planner stickers that I use in a pinch when I'm done with the current stack of them.  I know the second pile, more in the middle of the desk, is a mix of a chapter I printed to edit and a bunch of journals.  The pile that's on my three drawer file cabinet has two books that are for research and a pouch that's filled with important mail that I need to file.  I can go on, but I think you get the idea.  Some people just see and think about the mess versus the fact that, if I clean up the mess, I have no idea where anything is.  I'll put everything away just to get it all out again when I need it.  So the chaos stays so I don't go insane trying to figure out where the hell I put the chapter I'm editing or the planner stickers I need.

You're probably wondering what this has to do with writing.  Well, to me, it has less to do with writing and more to do with how you plan to write.  Some people use software, such as Scrivener, and everything's in a proper file.  Everything has a place and you can just open it and go exactly to where you want.  I'm glad that works for some people but I have a hard time with it.  For me, it is easier to open up Google Documents and work there to outline my novel.  I have different starter documents - ones that could probably easily transfer over to Scrivener, and in different file folders once I create them that go to what project they're for.  Yet, there are times when I'll create a basic stats document for my novel - title, genre, summery, basic characters - and then I don't organize it.  But I can find it, just as easily as I find the journal that's buried under several different papers in my room, because it is organized to what I need.

That's the art of chaos.  When you bend it to your rules and make it your own.  That's when you can own your chaos and make it work with you to whatever you want to do.  If that's plotting a novel, then you can do that.  If it's making sure that you get from point A to point B quicker, you can do that too.  The point I'm trying to make, if you've gotten this far dear reader, is that chaos is not as random as we think.  Chaos is organized and organized is chaos if you know how to work both.  If you find that, then you have balance.

The question I leave you with is how do you live your life?  Does it seem like chaos to an outsider but completely organized to you?  Or is it just chaos and you need to be organized to get anything done?  I know I fall under the first question but I can't wait to hear what you think, dear readers.

Until next time, have a wonderful day.

Goodbye 2014

As we enter into the new year, I thought I'd come and say something.  The problem is that I can't really think of anything to write about.  It's not like things didn't happen in the last year, considering that I got another short story published, and I went to a workshop in Iowa, but otherwise?  Not a lot happened, minus figuring out what I really want to do next year.

The goal of 2015 is publishing, publishing, publishing.  In small forms, in big forms, but the goal is to get out there.  The goal is to push out and run into walls so fast that I leave a size the shape of me, like in the Road Runner cartoons.

So, that's it.  Goodbye 2014, you will be missed, but hello 2015.  Hello the year of getting stuff done.

A Happy New Year to everyone.  I'll see you in 2015!

New thoughts, new month - Welcome to September

So, it's the start of a new month, along with the start of a new school year for some, and this seems to be the time of year that I get flooded with plot bunnies.  It's like something turns on in my brain with the fall season more than any other season of the year.  Sure, I get some with spring and summer, but nothing like with fall.  It seems like anything I look at might be a good story.

Case in point, at the library, there's a book about ghost haunting places in Chicago.  Wouldn't it be a cool idea to research a story like that and tell it from the ghost's point of view?  Or even doing some research and doing a historical fiction novel about the Salem witch trials.  Although, I think that one has been done to death but it's an idea.  There's also the fact that I keep on reminding myself I want to research more into steampunk, which is not the easiest thing to do.  Well, it is if you read the genre, which I do, but otherwise?  It's kind of like fantasy; you make it up as you go along and hope that it all meshes in the end, I guess.

In speaking about story ideas, I'm realizing all I have left to do for the year.  I have stories that I want to finish up before jumping headfirst into NaNoWriMo with two story ideas - the steampunk one called Sky Pirates and a fantasy one called the Scribe's Daughter - and I'm trying to think on how it's going to get done.  Well, no, I know how it's going to get done because you sit your butt in the chair and write.  That's the simple answer.  I think it's more that I'm feeling overwhelmed and it's best to just take one project at a time.  So, here's the projects left and the order they're going to be written in:

~Mages and Sorcerers - Unofficial 3 Day Novel Project
~Hidden Scions - Novel I started writing in August
~Prelude to a Heart - fantasy/romance novel that I started in February.  Yikes.
~Mystery of the Dark 3.0 - my dhampir novel that really needs to get going or something.  This seems to get written whenever I want to write something that's not the other projects.  Lovely.

I could have sworn that I started more this year.  Maybe it just feels like more?  Or they were short stories here and there instead of novels.  Oh well.  So, that's the plan - finish what's already started.  Also, I'm not allowed to start anything else until November.  *laughs*  Yeah, we'll see how that goes.

April, the Fail Month

Heh, April.  I had such great plans for April and then... nothing.  I got some writing done, like about ten thousand words, but that's about it.  So, let's talk about it.  Or, I'll ramble about it and you guys will just scroll down past it if you want.  This is also going to be on the <a href="http://wordsnbooks.blogspot.com/">wordsnbooks blog</a>.  Plus with the March and April WriYe blog circle thingies.  Maybe.  We'll see.  :)

First off, what is a fail month?  A fail month is where you set up a list of goals and then don't really get any of them done.  This can happen with any sort of path you take in life.  Us writers associate it with writing, because of ya know being writers, but it could also be that you wanted to take five different hikes and you didn't get any of them done.  You could call that a fail month if you wanted to if you were an avid hiker and that's what you did for your hobby / job / whatever you want to call it.  Basically, you set a list of things to be done over a month and none of them get done.  That's a fail month.

With April, I got some things done.  I was proud of myself.  And then about a week into April, I gave up on what I was trying to do.  There was no good reason to do that, other than self diagnosing myself with many things, and just needing time off.  Sometimes it just happens that a writer needs to just throw everything away and take time off.  Pushing through will only harm yourself, even though a lot of people say to write everyday, but I'm not of that thought.  I'm of the thought that if you stress yourself too much, then you will only associate stress with what you want to do.  Therefore, I just left and gave myself time.

It could have also been because I was fighting with a project that didn't want to work and it went over to everything else.  Like, I was trying to figure out a plot and character creation during the challenge instead of being done before the month started like I should have been.  So, um, yeah, I kind of set myself up to fail as well.  But I also think that I could have worked through it and done something if I wasn't wrapped up in myself and my issues.  But, you know, sometimes issues are a good thing to make you take a step back and realize that something is missing.  Or something is pushing against a wall and nothing is working that sometimes it is better to give up, take a breath, and find another route.

That route, for me, is to take May and June to finish up everything I've started already in 2014 / carried over from 2013.  I've got a great project I'm still working on from February called Prelude to a Heart that I'd like to get done and maybe published as a novella.  I've got fanfic that I'd like to get off my plate and I'd like to finish up the planning that I have for the rest of the year stuff.  I might pick up a new project in June or maybe in May as a secret goal, but I'm thinking nothing new until July.  That's the plan and that's my new route.  Will it be successful?  Only time will tell.  Until next time, readers.

Blogging Circle: The Hows and Whys of Planning

And we're back.  Kind of.  It's time for the 2014 Blogging Circle, which will go until it doesn't go anymore.  I'm thinking around October / November unless I get bored sooner.  I did talk last post about distractions.  :)

This month, we're talking about planning.  I'm also doing the One A Day WriYe video blogging, so this goes hand in hand with this about plotting.  The questions are as follows:

• What's your favorite planning method?
• Do you prefer to plot by hand or use the computer?
• What part of planning do you hate the absolute most?
• Or do you hate all planning and pants your novel?
• And the most important - why?

I'm going with the question that is the easiest and simpler to answer first - the plotting by hand or computer.  I like to plot by computer because I either misplace the notes if I write them by hand - I have a million and one journals - and I can better organize myself by knowing where things are.  Plus, all of my planning stuff is up on Google Docs, which means that I can be on any computer and work on my novels.  Or, you know, have Google Docs up on my phone due to the internet being down and use Word to write.  It's a win-win, honestly.

My favorite planning method... well, it's outlined in the WriYe Basic Stats document.  You put in the title, how many words you want to write, a summary, and then follow the links in the other sections to create a novel.  Before there was this amazing document, I tried to outline first and then create the rest with the outline.  Or have the characters down and then try to outline.  The linked document just makes things a lot easier for everyone, including me.

If you noticed, I didn't include world building in that paragraph.  That's because I loathe world building.  I really like using the Earth and cities that we have - it's probably why I took like a duck to water with all the urban stuffs.  It just makes it easier with writing to have a city already set up and you just put what you want to happen in there.  It's a lot like roleplaying in a way, which I also do, so yeah.  I do not world build all that much.  Or, if I do, I pants the world building.  In the novel I'm going to be working on in February - Prelude to a Heart - I have a very basic world build going on there.  It has to do more with the characters than any sort of shape the world has.  I figure that I can work up how the place looks as I go because I really don't care how it looks right now.  I might change when it is the 31st and I'm freaking out about it, but for right now, I'm okay with not having a good map in my head.

As for the why - I'm not sure I can answer that.  I'm comfortable with the way that I create my novels before I dive right into them.  It's taken some trial and error - like failing NaNo a few times - but this is good.  

Blogging Circle: Tick Tock Goes the Clock (Even for the Doctor)

This month's blogging circle's topic is Deadlines.  Dun dun duuuuuunnnnnn.  *ahem*  And the first thing that I thought of was Doctor Who.  Good job, brain, go for the fandom parts.  Now, for the questions.

We've all have deadlines to face - whether it be yearly like WriYe, monthly like NaNo, or weekly like LWS (Last WriYer Standing).  How do you face your deadlines?  Any advice to help meet them?  Any advice on what to do when you miss them?

What I like to do, when faced with a deadline, is try to have a plan on how I'm going to reach my goal.  For example, with NaNo, I try to plot out as much of the novel as I can and how much I want to write for each chapter.  That gets me to the goal of wanting to write 50K.  It also helps with getting as much done of the novel as I can in one month.  For the deadlines that go month to month, I'm a bit of hit and miss on them.  Sometimes I'm right on the money and have something done and ready to go.  But that's because I plan out everything ahead of time.  So, plan plan plan down the details as much as you can.  Also, try to get your schedule planned out ahead of time as well.

You're probably asking: What if I hit a snag?  Oh noes!  Well, go back to planning.  There might be something that you're missing and you've just tripped over it.  Look at what you've tripped over and make a plan of attack to fix it.  Sometimes a half hour of sketching a chapter makes the world of difference to hit your deadline on time.  Also, you might find a subplot you wouldn't have realized if you hadn't gone back and looked it over!  I know I have from time to time.

Now, I have missed deadlines, waving to them as they pass by.  The best thing to do, when you miss a deadline, is try to finish the project anyways.  For example - it wasn't until 2008 that I finished NaNo for the first time ever but I first signed up in 2003.  With the 2003 to 2007 projects, I kept at them.  Some of them I finished and some of them are locked away in a drawer to never be spoken about again.  So, finish the project and try to do it within a month of the old deadline.  You might end up liking the project anyways or you might lock the project away to never see the light of day again.  But the important thing is that you did finish.  Yes, it is late and yes, deadlines are important, but sometimes a finished project is the best ephoria for a writer.

So, recap of suggestions:

• Plan your heart out: Outline, character sketch, world build, and everything else.  Get your plotting out of the way first and then your project should move smoothly to hit the deadline.
• Don't be afraid to go back to planning when you hit a snag: Sometimes the best plot ideas come from going back and outlining the chapter.
• Schedule your time: Realize when you're going to work the best and try to use that time to it's maximum potential.
• If you miss your deadline: Get the project done and do not blame yourself (much).

And those are my secrets.  Go forth and smack those deadlines head on!