My 2020 Planner Line Up

To review, see my 2019 planners here.

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.

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.

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.

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?

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!

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