My 2019 Planners... as currently planned...

Alright FINE! 

If you follow me on Instagram, you already know. I’m a planner ‘ho.

Well… not really.

More like a high class planner escort.

I know what I like and I’m really good at what I do and it’s worth every penny.

….This is getting weird.

All I wanted to do was share my planner system for 2019. Or, what I have planned to be my planner system for 2019.

This is pretty special, you know. It might be the first time I’ve ever shared the whole kit and kaboodle. I don’t think I went through all this in September for #ReadWritePlan. (Oh – you don’t know about that? It’s my annual Instagram challenge that I co-host with Alexandra Haughton. You can search the hashtag on Instagram and make plans to join us this year, won’t you?)

Here goes.

I’m purposely keeping things as simple as possible this year. I can have my eye turned very quickly by pretty notebooks and cleverly designed planners. And I’m a member of a Facebook group populated by other writers and publishing people obsessed with paper planning. I see things all the time. Expensive, adorable things.

But yet. I resist.

Because I know what works for me:

A 2019 Hobonichi Techo Cousin is my main planner. I love the paper. The grids. The Japanese. I love having monthly, weekly and daily all in one A5 sized package. I had done morning pages for several years in a Moleskine before I started using a Hobonichi. Now I use the daily pages as my morning pages and it makes it so simple and portable. LOVE LOVE LOVE.

I also use a spiral bound Fabriano grid notebook. You can get it on Amazon. I also love the size and simplicity of it. What do I use the notebook for? Everything that comes up that I want to keep track of. The habit goes back to law school when my ethics professor advised always using the same system to record conversations, etc. I did it throughout my legal career and still do it now for calls with my agent, editor, etc. I take notes at conferences, brainstorm, make lists, etc. It’s basically a lot of et cetera in there. But it’s my system and it works for me.

Finally, I’m using my medium sized Louis Vuitton ring planner as a social media/ blog planner this year. I’ve used different things for this purpose in the past but I decided to buy some fresh inserts on Black Friday and see if I could make it work this year. 

Can’t resist a fold out calendar. I don’t know why a year at a glance is so tempting but it is. Not sure how I’m using this one yet…

I thought I’d list some social media/ website goals and tasks each month on these.

A homemade divider with a photo of a creative person to inspire me.

One thing I love about the Hobonichi is there are extra pages that you can do all sorts of things with. Here I turned the December 2018 month into my 2019 Reading Log. You can see where I incorporated Roni Loren’s reading challenge and Robin Covington’s reading challenges there on the left. I’ll just cross them off with my favorite gray mildliner when I’m done.

But I’m not sure how I should use some of the pages. They’re so tempting and blank right now but I just can’t think of something good for them. What do you think? How would you use them? What do you track? I need some ideas! Shocking, I know, but a planner never stops planning!

Click here for my 2020 planner line up!

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It's Time for RWA Nationals!

Oh boy. This will be my FIFTH RWA National Conference. I can't believe it. And this year I'll be flying to....

DENVER, COLORADO!

I haven't been to Denver in so long. Fun fact: It's where my husband proposed to me. So going to a ROMANCE conference there is very much on point for me.  And oh, I'm so excited for (hopefully) some cooler temperatures but also to be surrounded by my people. My tribe. My besties.  
 

Not my suitcase... YET. But isn't it #goals?

I'm Sort Of Obsessed With Packing

That's.... normal, right? If you already follow me, you know that I'm a capital-P Planner so it totally makes sense that I make lists of what I want to take on trips. But one of my favorite packing hacks/ tools is sadly, lost forever. See, I used to be a regular user of the site Polyvore and yes, I would plan out any vacation outfits and accessories there but the site shut down this year. Now I'm trying out a combination of Pinterest board + Trello board to see if that is sufficient for my shoe-assessment needs.  You see, I like to pack light - but fabulous. So. It takes both some flair and organization. 

If you're attending RWA,  whether a repeat attendee or for the first time, you can take a peek at my past post on WHAT TO PACK.   I still stand by these tips and tricks  but this year it will be a little different because I'm headed to Denver for a few days before the conference starts for a writing retreat. So smart of me to schedule this!  With the writing retreat, I'll have to throw in a few more casual tees and shorts, a caftan, my hot pink Birkenstocks and my Very Smart Lady Glasses.  I'm going for a Writing Retreat Chic look.  

Not sure what this has to do with anything except I love this gif and how much fun Wills and Kate are having here. Also a great example that you should always be prepared for all sorts of events on vacation. ;-)

If you follow me on social media next week, you can judge for yourself whether I've reached that particular fashion goal. 
 

My Schedule

I will be signing books at the Gallery/ Pocket Books signing  at 8:30 a.m. on Thursday, July 19. Bring your coffee and come get a copy of The Royal Runaway signed!

I will also be presenting a 20/20 session on Friday about content marketing and I'll have special swag reserved for librarians, bloggers and readers!

Alas, these events are only for conference registrants, but stay in the know about my upcoming future appearances by signing up for The Inner Circle - my exclusive newsletter. 

And hit me up if you similarly enjoy the vacation packing experience and have a packing trick or tip! I'd love to hear them!

The Royal Runaway - How I got the idea...

It all started with a dream.

Seriously. About two years ago, I had a very vivid dream. A whole story came alive as I slept. I dreamed of a princess who sneaked out of her castle at night. The country was modern, but small. She was able to blend in with people in bars and cafes and visit friends. Then stuff happened. 

When I woke up, I couldn't get the idea out of my head. The world had felt so real to me, I immediately grabbed a pad of paper and made notes so I wouldn't forget. 

Don't believe me?  Here it is, pinned to the bulletin board in front of my writing desk.

Evidence of the dream-notes that would become a book. Spoilers whited out.

And oh yes - here was the key part. In the dream, I specifically saw that the princess had been abandoned by her groom on her wedding day. 
 

And I think that's why it stuck with me. You see, I'm a great sleeper. It's one of the top-three things that I excel at. Caffeine does not affect me, noise, lights, nothing stops me from sleeping pretty much anytime I want to (except planes because ugh.) Because I'm so awesome at sleeping, I also rock at dreaming. Almost every night I have lucid dreams but I let 99% of them go in the morning. 

This one? Wouldn't let me go. 

The emotions of a princess, suddenly not knowing who she is, or what she was meant for, were what caused me to grab that paper and pen and capture the idea. 

But it's a crazy idea, right? How do I write a story about a princess of a make-believe country? Even though I'm a writer, I'm a pretty down to earth, practical person. I put my electric purple thigh-high stiletto boots on, one leg at a time, like the rest of you. 

Just kidding. If you follow me on Instagram, you'll know that I run car pool, have a garden, go for walks. I'm not nearly as exciting as a glamorous European princess sneaking out of her palace. 

But I went ahead wrote the first chapter. I do this sometimes, when I have a new idea that won't let me go. It's a form of bargaining. "Okay, FINE. I'll let you off the leash for 500 words but that's it. After that, we're going to switch back over to our normal, boring book."

Ah ha. You see the problem there, don't you?

Who wants to write a normal, boring book?

Who wants to read one, for that matter?

Maybe that was why the dream wouldn't let me go. And maybe because it all started with a dream, THE ROYAL RUNAWAY came out all backwards and forwards. Blips of it here, strings had to be pulled there. The characters popped up like a a literary game of whack-a -mole. HERE! was the Queen. THERE! Was the sexy Scottish spy. QUICK! LOOK! A psychic hacker?  Um, okay, subconscious. You're full-on nutso now.

So I went ALL IN. Fine. This insanity wants to unfurl? I want to make up a whole new country, with a whole new geography and hundreds of years of history? Sure. Why not. Clearly, I need a hobby. 

Still I wondered: WHY was it happening like this? WHO would ever want to read it? Oh, an author gets so caught up in questions like that. Even now, when there are literal printed copies of this book going out to reviewers, I'm still not sure that I did it right. 

Or that I can do it again? Yes, that's always the next problem, isn't it? I went along for the madness that my subconscious dreamed up. But...

What if... what if my sleepy brain now has a huge ego and now thinks that it can come up with random, nonsensical story ideas in the future and hijack all my logical, reasonable (read: boring) book ideas and force me to do its diabolical will?

More importantly... what if it doesn't? 

THE END. 

<Lindsay's Brain: You forgot one thing.>

EPILOGUE. 

Reserve your copy of THE ROYAL RUNAWAY today so you can see why I dreamed it all up.
Pre-order at your favorite book retailer: Amazon || BN.Com || Apple Books || Amazon UK || Kobo

Cover Reveal - THE ROYAL RUNAWAY!

It's time to announce the secret that I've been carrying for so many months...

Yes, you may commence with the squealing and ooohs and aaahs. I won every book cover lottery, the stars were aligned, the feng shui was perfect, and my publisher clearly loves me the most of all the authors they've ever published, in the history of the world. 

I'm not being cocky, my cover is just THAT GOOD. 

Don't you want to instagram it? Model with it? Print it out and put it on a wall? (Believe me, you're welcome to do all those things!)
 

More than that, don't you want to READ IT???

Honestly, I can't wait for the world to read it. The early readers have been sent into a tizzy by this story of the aftermath of a #RoyalWedding gone wrong. THE ROYAL RUNAWAY is the story that I've always wanted to write - a perfect blend of suspense, romance and mystery. 

THE ROYAL RUNAWAY is a princess story AND a spy story. It has kissing AND dead bodies. It has good and evil, tears and laughs. And kissing. Did I mention kissing?

Oh, you want to pre-order it?  One-click here: Amazon. (And THANK YOU for pre-ordering. It helps my publisher know that people love my stories and want more of them!)
 

Make sure that you're signed up for The Inner Circle newsletter, where I will be sharing exclusive content and inspiration for THE ROYAL RUNAWAY  in the months to come. 

And as this will be a paperback book, I will also be doing book giveaways for my social media followers and newsletter subscribers so follow me on Instagram, Facebook, Pinterest and Twitter!

As always, thank you for your support and excitement! I can't wait to see what the next few months bring!