Introducing... my 2021 Hobonichi

Planner people are really the ultimate optimists, right?

Look at us all, buying planners after 2020 showed us that we can’t always plan what life is going to look like.

But there’s something that I’m always going to enjoy about it. There’s a ritual to selecting a new planner. To setting it up and carefully inscribing birthdays and holidays. There’s a beautiful faith that life goes on, that we’re going to be here to enjoy it, that we want to honor these days with purpose and distinction.

Or maybe we just like stickers and washi.

Or both. Definitely both.

I still used my Hobonichi Cousin almost daily in 2020, even when I had no outings or appointments or anything to look forward to. This is because I use the daily pages as my journal so that meant this sturdy, beautifully designed book was in my hands a lot.

I did an unboxing video for those who are curious as to what a 2021 Hobonichi looks like: (Don’t judge. I am not a videographer, obviously.)

I’ll do another post in January with how I’ve decided to personalize this but ICYMI, here are some past blog posts about this year’s set up and previous years’ as well.

My 2020 Planner Line-Up

My 2019 Planners

And… that’s all for now. If you want my blog posts sent straight to your inbox, subscribe to my Inner Circle Newsletter here. Or follow me on Instagram to see my occasional weekly spreads.

A Peek at my 2020 Planner Line Up!

My 2020 Planner Line Up

To review, see my 2019 planners here.

Yes, I planned out my planners. I’m that kind of person.

So this is the most unexciting planner tour ever. Why? Because I’m not changing *that* much from 2019.

For me, this is a good thing. Because that means I’ve found what (mostly) works for me and I don’t need to change too much.

But it probably makes for a boring blog. Sorry?

My main planner for 2020 will still – again be a 2020 Hobonichi Cousin Techo, housed in a Louis Vuitton Couv Carnet GM.  The Hobonichi Cousin still wins my heart for its size, the flexibility, the paper, the combination of monthly, weekly and daily pages (which I use for my morning pages). I love the Japanese writing, the way it sort of decorates my planner in a way that doesn’t take any mental or emotional energy from me (since I don’t read Japanese).  I love the soft grids which gives me an orderly skeleton to drape the often chaotic fabric of my life.

I’ve selected some stickers to decorate the cover…. But I haven’t quite decided which ones to use. I’ll probably update y’all on Instagram in January with that oh-so-fun announcement.

Last year I used the extra December calendar for a reading log. (More below on that) This year I’ve decided to use this page in the back to log the books I’ll be reading.

This is pretty basic, I know. I might add some washi or something to jazz this up.

In the second half of 2019, I got into the habit of using these as habit trackers and I hope to continue that for 2020.  My plan is to use the boxes at the bottom to keep track of quarterly tasks/ goals.

My 2019 habit tracker. This actually turned out to be a very useful practice for keeping me on course-ish.

2020 Habit Tracker and I’ve already screwed it up. My ruler didn’t keep the Mildliner contained. We’ll pretend that I’m just artsy, okay?

I also have decided to track my television/ movie watching in 2020. I’ve noticed in the past 12-18 months that shows and movies are one of my main sources of #input and creative inspiration so I’m interested to see what trends and insights this might reveal.

Again, I might add something cute. Or not. I do like a nice minimalist planner.

I don’t (usually) do a lot of stickers and washi tape. If they’re in my planner, it’s to block off large chunks of time or something particularly celebratory - release dates, birthdays, anniversaries. But this next layout is the exception, as it was in 2020.

Hobonichi Cousins include extra months at the end of the calendar year (usually until March) and the month before (December, obviously.) Now I really like to move into a new planner on January first, but I still use those next-year months because, well, in December, I am usually making appointments, etc. for the next year. But I NEVER have a practical use for the extra December because… I’m still using 2019 right now. Get it?

So last year, I turned the extra December into my reading log, which you can see in this blog post (here.) This year, I’m trying something different. Voila. The Hobonichi Kanban board.

I think I’ve talked about how I’ve done the HB90 system since RWA 17 in Denver. If not, here’s an explanation on You Tube.

But I noticed the last few months of this year that my big bulky Kanban board had been replaced by some other processes and so I decided to start 2020 without it. Where I still enjoyed the Kanban though, was for some repetitive tasks that I do every month. Hence, my Hobonichi kanban set up. The plan is, to label some sturdy reusable stickies and move them through the board each month. I’ll update you later in 2020 with how that’s going!

And like last year (again, sorry! I’m not more exciting…) I’ll be doing some social media/ blog/ newsletter planning in my MM (medium) ring planner.  But! This year I did order new inserts from Sessavee that I’m reallllyyyy excited about. I got the monthly inserts with all these darling goals and task lists and then I couldn’t resist biannual/ quarterly spreads. I’ll be using these to keep track of social media, blogs and newsletters.

No, I’m not sure what I’ll do with all these yet. But I can see them coming in handy, can’t you?

It’s a little smaller than I’d like. One of these days I’ll have to move to Discs or a GM…. one of these days…

Planning blogs and newsletters for Q1 2020 already!!

And then finally, this isn’t a planner per se but, I have to have a notebook.  This is both a remnant of my legal training/ career and the natural inclination of a writer. I love this grid notebook and use it to take notes on calls with agents/ editors, workshops, classes, and whatever brain dump I need to expel.

And that’s all there is to see… right now! I regularly post my #amplanning photos on Instagram so follow me there for more updates throughout 2020. And I hope you do because I’d love to see your planning supplies and techniques too! If you’re interested in more of my Plan - Write - Publish blog posts, click here to see them all!

This post may contain affiliate links from which I receive a few coins. Thank you for your support and encouragement, as always!

Why You Need to Quit Nanowrimo

Why You Need to Quit Nanowrimo

 (Look at me with the clickbait title!)

Okay, I don’t mean YOU need to quit Nanowrimo.

I mean, you, over there. Yeah. You need to quit.

You who have tried everything and don’t understand why writing a whole book in a month isn’t working for you when OBVIOUSLY it works for kajillions of other people in November every damn year.

[Side note: Nanowrimo is National Novel Writing Month and also an organization that promotes this event. Nanowrimo encourages participants to write 50,000 words during November.]

For myself, I have “won” Nanowrimo (it’s called winning when you complete 50,000 words in one month.) That was the year that I graciously accepted all the prizes (yes, there are prizes), one of which was a nice discount on Scrivener , the writing software that I still use for all my first drafts to this day.

I’ve also attempted Nanowrimo and “lost.” (They don’t call it losing, but it’s the opposite of winning so…)  But of course I’ve never considered it a loss. ANY words on the page are great. Any stab at a book means, well, that the book is closer to… dying? (What kind of metaphor is ‘taking a stab at,’ anyway?)

I’ve also encouraged and recommended Nanowrimo to almost anyone who has come to me, seriously, and said they want to write a book. (If I haven’t recommended it to you, it’s because I didn’t take you seriously, Mr. Dude at the Sports Bar who had a Great Idea for a KGB Spy Book but like, Harry Potter Style That Will Be Bigger Than 50 Shades of Gray.)

Why do I recommend Nanowrimo to new / aspiring authors? Because you don’t know if you can write a book until you actually try to write a book. It’s as simple as that. Writing books is a lot more than having ideas and picturing them in your head. Writing a book entails WRITING FIFTY to ONE HUNDRED THOUSAND WORDS (approximately) in a (mostly) legible way and making sure it tells a complete story.  That’s… a lot. I’m not going to make it sound like it’s not.

So, you know, if you’re reading this and have always wanted to write, go sign up at Nanowrimo.org and see what they have to offer.

But you said I had to quit Nanowrimo, Lindsay.

I did.

Because I think you should try. And then quit if it’s not working for you.

Why? I hear you saying, “I want to be a writer. I have this amazing idea for a Harry Potter style KGB spy novel that I must gift to the world as my legacy!”

Awesome. The world needs that book, ASAP. (The more times I type this, I might steal this idea, honestly.)

But Nanowrimo doesn’t work for everyone. It’s worked for me, and then it hasn’t. And look, I have five books published with traditional publishers and two self-published books. I have a great agent and a very popular podcast and fans around the world.

And I still know that I’m not going to be able to write fifty thousand words this month.

How do I know that? How do I know that this fantastic program that’s helped so many aspiring writers is most definitely not going to help me this month?

Well, here’s the second piece of advice I started giving new writers about eighteen months ago.

…There’s a class you need to take.

It’s called Write Better Faster. The instructor is Becca Syme.

And she’s helped me sooooo much. I wish I’d taken this class when I was just starting off. Through her insights and the application of a variety of personality/ strength/ self-knowledge instruments, you’ll start figuring out whether something like Nanowrimo will work for you.

Plotting, pantsing, worksheets, writing alone, writing in groups, sprints, critique groups, accountability, deadlines, BICHOK, “treating writing like a job,” “getting in the flow…”  You hear about all these things when you start dipping your toes into the writing community and at first, most of us are tempted to TRY EVERYTHING. And then we’re frustrated when we’re struggling to complete a novel and the people we started off with have self-published a ten-book high fantasy series.

Becca’s classes (and I’ve taken three of them and been coached by her) have helped me learn my strengths, my personality and the type of environments I work best in. All of these lead to greater productivity and greater, well, wellness, truth be told. 

I don’t stress out as much as I used to when the words don’t “flow.” I don’t feel the need to jump on every bandwagon, sign up for every writing course, buy every “how to do novels” book. I know what works for me, and if I don’t, I have the tools to figure it out.

Nanowrimo probably worked for me that first time because I’m a highly competitive person, because I had a small, tightknit group of people who were doing it with me, because I had a steady, predictable schedule at the time and because I’d thoroughly thought out my story ahead of time. 

Nanowrimo hasn’t worked for me since because I either jump in without a fully intellected story (that’s a word in Becca-land) or because it hasn’t been necessary for my publishing strategy. (I know now that my strategic strengths are very strong – and I should always listen to them).

But that’s me. And what I (now) know about myself. ^^^ All those reasons may not apply to you.

So yes, by all means, try Nanowrimo. PLEASE. Again, you never know until you try. Keep sludging through, keep at it!! It’s a thrill to win!

Or… sign up for Becca’s Write Better Faster course. And save yourself some essential pain if Nano seems… harder than it should be? There’s probably a new class starting soon (PERFECT for those I’m going to write a book resolutions.)

She also has a new course called Live Better Faster for those who want to know themselves better to succeed at other life/ career endeavors, not necessarily writing.  

And if you end up taking Write Better Faster, I can’t wait to see you in the Facebook groups or hit me up on social media and let me know ALL the THINGS that you’ve learned and what you’ve learned to Quit.

More Nano/ writing advice:

Alexis Anne’s Five Tips for Writing Nanowrimo

First Draught Writing Podcast

Women With Books Podcast: Chapter 4 with Alexis Daria

Becca’s books if you want to learn more about her philosophy (Yes, I stole her clickbait convention.)

Dear Writer, You Need to Quit
Dear Writer, Are You in Burnout?
Dear Writer, You’re Doing it Wrong

And you can listen/ watch Becca on her Youtube Podcast, The Quit Cast

Some links on this page may be affiliate links, which means I could receive a few coins for posting them. As always, thank you for your support and encouragement!