Planning, focus and getting sh*t done

Q4 is looming...time to sort some writerly goals

I’m seeing a lot of planner/organizing-related content floating about the interwebs these days. It could be because it’s apparently Planner Season, when all the Hardcore Planner People are sorting out their Planner Line-Ups for 2025¹ . Having stepped off that train a long time ago (to be fair, I was never really on it), into the land of simplicity, I thought I would share a bit about how I plan my writing projects and what I use to do so…no stationery hauls required! I’ll also share some resources that I’ve found helpful along the way. I love to see how other creatives organize themselves, so I hope you find this useful in some way.

First, the tools:

Left: the beginning of Q3, right: as of September 10

I started planning my writing projects using this modified kanban board back in 2020 (? - maybe late 2019?) after learning about it from the author, Sarra Cannon (more on that forthwith). While not exactly the same system as I learned from her, it’s essentially the same and involves setting goals then choosing projects to support progress towards those goals and then breaking those projects down into smaller, easily doable tasks. She suggests setting three goals, but I’ve only had two for the past few quarters - one to do with my fiction and one to do with my work here on Substack. The residual column I use as a reminder for what needs doing in the house and garden. 😉 At some point, I’m probably going to have a third goal again, but today is not that day.

As you can see, I haven’t made a lot of progress with my manuscript. Each blue square represents an hour of drafting. Evidently, I thought I’d be doing a lot more of that over the summer months. I don’t know why, I rarely write much over the summer. Ah well, the post-its can be reused for Q4 easily enough. 🤓 .

Anyway, the point being is that the sense of accomplishment of being able to move a square from the To-Do column to the Done column is freakishly delightful. Progress, even a tiny amount, has a way of bolstering confidence and, as Sarra says, provides positive momentum. Being able to see that progress is being made is very encouraging indeed.

I especially find this method useful when I’m in the editing and publishing phases of a manuscript. That particular phase is a veritable mountain of things that need doing, there are eleventy-trillion aggravating little admin tasks that need to be done and to look at it as a whole Thing, is overwhelming. (You could say the same about writing a novel, I suppose.) Breaking everything down into manageable-in-one-sitting tasks makes the whole thing feel less insurmountable.

My only other planning tool is my day-to-day planner, which is a blank Leuchturm 1917 (in a repurposed Hobonichi cover because as much as I love hobonichi - the paper! (slurp!) - it’s just Too Much Planner for my simple, modest lifestyle 😎). I use it in a bullet-journal-esque way (everything I do is in an ‘-esque’ way, it seems) because dated planners tend to illustrate the glaring gaps in my productivity and also so much wasted paper hurts my tree-hugging soul. Because of my aforementioned simple, modest lifestyle, this planner holds ALL of my stuff…work and home-related. I don’t intend to ever be ‘busy’ enough to require separate planners for my writing and my life.

That said, I also use a composition notebook for brainstorming and Big Picture organizing of my publishing empire. 🤓

the inside is actually quite aesthetically-pleasing - i don’t do fancy ‘spreads’ but i have a vast sticker collection that I’m trying to use up. I’d show you, but then you’d see all my bizness, so no. :)

So, you see…not terribly complex nor material-heavy.

In case it wasn’t obvious, and to absolutely no-one’s surprise, I’m strictly an analogue girl. I’ve tried digital planning and organizing - Notion is a rabbit hole I’ve fallen down and lost hours to - but it’s just not me. I need to see things on paper for them to be real. The less time I need to be looking at a screen, the better.

Focus, focus, focus

As I’ve written about many times before, I’m on an ongoing journey to reclaim my attention span from the internet. My brain is an all-or-nothing brain and I struggle to moderate - thusly, I must abstain. My two favourite things for helping me do that are Freedom and Forest.

Forest is a free app that allows you to grow pixel trees while you stay focused, by blocking out your access to certain apps on your phone. I use it as a timer and also the thrill of planting actual trees when you’ve accumulated enough focus points is nothing to underestimate. Oh, and cashing in points to ‘buy’ new trees/plants is also ridiculously happy-making for me. What can I say? I’m a simple creature.

Freedom used to have a free version, though is now wholly a paid service (I think?). I bought a lifetime license for it years ago and I can say that it’s one of my most-used gadget-things. I have recurring blocks on my phone and laptop that lock me out of my dangerous distractions. For me, that’s email and YouTube, and occasionally Substack. Of course, sometimes I mess up and lock myself out of things that I actually need (I missed a friend’s planning session recently because I couldn’t get into my email 😭) but mostly it’s extremely helpful. I especially like it for the ability to set recurring sessions which I use to organize my work hours so that I don’t get tempted to wander…

If you’re on a Mac, you can also use SelfControl - which is free, open-source software and is hardcore - once you set a block there is NO getting out of it. I use it for pop-up sessions when I want to be really stern with myself.

I’ve found that even a focused hour of work can yield more results than three hours of faffing about, flitting between tabs and tasks.

Speaking of which - let this be a clever segue into reminding you of the Silent Scribble Sessions which are coming up, starting September 16th. There’s currently a Monday afternoon (EST) and Wednesday morning (EST). You can find more about it, along with the Zoom links, here.

The other thing I use to help me corral my brain is the Brainwaves App. There’s a free and a paid option; I find the free option to be more than sufficient for my needs. I can’t listen to anything with words when I’m writing, so it’s either classical music or nature sounds. I don’t know if the brainwave altering tones actually work (their science says they do) but I do get into a deep flow when I’m using it, so there’s that. At this point, I think it’s almost Pavolvian that as soon as I hear the rumble of thunder and the patter of rain, I want to start writing. 😆

The Method

Full disclosure: I have an affiliate code for Sarra’s course. I’ve never ‘affiliated’ before, mostly because I’m extremely picky about recommending things, but Sarra’s stuff is the real deal, and so is she. I admire her work ethic and her generous approach to sharing what she know - she’s a genuinely good egg. I wouldn’t recommend it if I hadn’t used and benefited from it myself. If you do fancy joining the class, signing up using the link will grant me a small commission. The latest round for Q4 kicks off on September 15th. Thank you 😍.

As I mentioned above, I use a modified form of Sarra Cannon’s HB90 method. I took her first ever class way back then (2019 -?) and have been able to join in again whenever I feel like I need a boot up the arse refresh². This method is based on a 90-day plan, using value-based goal setting then figuring out the projects and tasks that will help you progress towards those goals.

I haven’t always used it to plan each quarter (sometimes I get mutinous and dig my toes in - again, to no-one’s surprise), though I’ve noticed a profound difference in what I’ve been able to accomplish when I do use it. I also don’t use it exactly the same way she does - she gets really granular with time blocks and calculating how many of those needed to complete each task etc. That’s way too much math for me. Plus, my days need to be somewhat fluid and I can’t always predict in advance what they might look like. The beauty of the system is that it’s really flexible and very easy to adapt to your own preferences and capacities.

First, I decide on my two goals — for the upcoming quarter that’s about finishing a first draft of Hazel 2, and building my Substack (expanding my offerings and increasing my paid subscribers). Two goals are quite sufficient in this chapter of my life. I’ve been guilty in the past of overestimating how much time and energy I actually have and it’s taken a couple of years of doing HB90 to teach me how to rein in my enthusiasms to a point where things can actually be accomplished. It’s definitely a case of ongoing refinement.

My fiction goal is pretty simple - finish the draft. I’m breaking that up into hour-long writing sessions, rather than word-count as I find that to be more forgiving. I’m all about staying flexible and rewarding even the smallest effort!

My Substack goal is a bit more involved and will have several different projects attached to it: regular posts, the Sunday Scribble, the new Silent Scribble as well as some things I’m working on for my patrons as little extras. I’m also noodling over something I’m calling The Story Forge — which will be mini-workshops based on something I created for another online community last year. Think - guided writing sessions, generative exercises, exploring different aspects of craft, digging deeper into our writing selves and other juicy bits. That will probably carry over into Q1 of 2025, but the brainstorming and planning will hopefully happen this year.

I think that’s more than enough to be getting on with. Because I’ve got rather a lot swirling about in my brain - and my propensity for over-committing myself, I’m going to join in with the latest round of the class to hone my planning skills. I will invariably have to push some stuff to Q1 of next year, but at least I’ll have an idea what I’m doing. Theoretically, anyway.

What about you? What do you have on the creative horizon for the last quarter of the year? Are you finishing strong, or easing off by this time of year? Are you a planner, maybe a Hardcore one? What are your tools of choice. Do let me know, I’m ever so nosy. 😎

Right, that’s it for this week. Many thanks to everyone who left a comment or messaged me about the Silent Scribble. I’m (probably) not going to be Billy No-Mates after all! I’m so looking forward to creating with you….quietly. 😏

~m.. xo

If you’re curious about Sarra Cannon and/or HB90, you can check out her YouTube channel - Heart Breathings (try this video) - where she shares all aspects of her writing life. She really is very generous and you can learn a lot from her, even without taking the class. She has a whole series of planning videos to choose from.

But if you do want to try HB90, here’s my affiliate link again.

1. I’m honestly a bit conflicted about the whole thing - the rampant consumerism is horrifying but I’m also a bit shamefacedly voyeuristic because stationery is a of weakness of mine

2. You have lifetime access to the course and can join in each subsequent session. Excellent value. When I first took the course it was $99…she’s added to it a lot since then.