Today we are going to talk about planners, reading, and how I started the year and of course writing in all it’s glory.

I set up my Erin Condren On-the-Go Folio,

This is what I had planned on doing on the 1st of this year. As you can see I wrote all of my goals in teal and crossed off the completed items in pink. I did manage to film and post a video. You can see where I migrated (moved the task to another day, for those of you that aren’t bullet journal savvy> all unfinished tasks to the next day.  I did end up doing my four pages of plotting at 3 am when I woke up in severe pain. I also read for fun last night and I am currently 55 pages into Game of Crowns by Christopher Andersen. I’m really enjoying it so far. Although I do think the author is making the Queen sound emotionless and uncaring. Is anyone else reading this as well?

Today I woke up in serious pain and only managed to wash the sheets, go to the grocery store, which wasn’t on the list, but I did get a last minute order (the youngest informed me that I needed to bring 3 dozen cooked breakfast sausages to soccer for their team breakfast on Friday, at 8 am. I figured since I was in too much pain to sit for any period of time, I would go to the store and buy the sausages. I did manage to call Butch (my brother) and create a character card for Finn. Finn Asher is the hot guy in Chloe’s Diary (yep, working title). The character cards are something that will be exclusive to the newsletter until the reveal on my blog weeks from now.  I didn’t end up looking for agents today either so that is going on tomorrows task list. This is what I mean by shouldering unrealistic expectations of myself.

And here is where we are now.

In the morning Thelma will be here to clean my house, she is a life-saver. I don’t know what I would do with out her. Also Blue Apronarrives tomorrow as well. It’s one of those delivery services that bring you fresh ingredients to make a whole meal for your family. It’s a great help when your schedule changes daily.  I also added more work stuff as well. Because I didn’t get a chance to read The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors by Anne R. Allen, I moved that to tomorrow and I will only get to read the other book if I get time. I hope how my mind and planning works makes sense to you all.  Whatever was on yesterday’s plan that didn’t get done gets moved to today (January 3rd), If I don’t get all of that done then whatever is left over gets moved or migrated to the next day.

Friday is going to be a busy day. I’ll be in an out of the house all day. And so far nothing is planned for coming weekend. So I will show you how all of this worked out on Sunday.

As far as writing goes. Here’s the scoop. I have been using The Writer’s Plotting Workbook by L.R. Ryan. I got my book in the floral pattern. Let’s take a look

This is the first writer’s plotting workbook that I will be using and reviewing on this blog. There are so many out there and I really want to find the best one for me and to help you all find the one that will work the best for you. There was no particular reason I picked this one to do first other than the fact that its been rainy and drab and wanted something pretty, there are many different covers to chose from, from fantasy to horror. Check them out on Amazon.

This book shows you a sample of each page before you fill it out. I found that very useful when filing out this time line. Yes, it’s actually realistic. I will however have a huge decision to make before April 5th. This is the day I have to decide if I am going to self-publish or traditionally publish. I have found from my first book Planners, Poison and the PTA, that there is a time to publish your book and it’s best not to be in a rush.

This was the next page where you plug in the basic idea of your book. After reading the directions and looking at the sample, I plugged in the information for Chloe’s Diary. It clarified my story for me and now I have a clear view of my characters intentions. I can now see how the story is going to play out and everything that I need to make sure I add into the story seamlessly. Honestly at this point I am loving this workbook.

I think this is a good place to stop. Here you see I took one of the most important scenes in the book, this is the meet/cute, when Finn and Mandy meet. <goofy sigh>. I also drew a rough draft of the Hawthorne Manor Inn and its surrounding area. As I come up with scenes, and their locations, I have plenty of pages left to create a visual reminder of what that location looks like. Next on the list is creating the main characters and their arcs. I for one can not wait to get to it.

I’ll update you all on Sunday and let you know if I made my goals for this week in both life and writing, what worked and what didn’t, and my overall feeling of what’s going on.

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I know this was a long post, and the pictures weren’t exactly great, but this is a learning curve for me, so if you have any advice, please by all means shoot me an email at Authoralexandersen@gmail.com.

Cheers,

Alex.

Last year (2018) was a whirlwind and I expect the New Year to be one as well.

SO much happened, I got diagnosed with Lupus, and it pretty much has attached itself to my skin, blood, liver and joints.

My oldest turned 18 and has been sending out college applications and planning her future between those inevitable last year of high school events, there is also the last first day of school, last homecoming dance, and the last prom and graduation coming up. I’m not going to lie, sometimes I am not handling it well.

My youngest is driving not by herself yet, but she has her permit, so there have been many times when I am in the car hoping and praying that no one dies while my baby is taking the corners on two wheels (No, not really but it feels like it.) She’s a good driver but she does take those corners fast.

And add home, dog, marriage, mom, cool mom (I know, I’m the cool mom, I’ve never been cool a day in my life.) and of course writing.

My writing career is at a nice rate, my books are selling and I am getting great reviews (I’m not supossed to read them but I kind of had to.) I don’t so much anymore because when I read that someone has said something amzing about one of my stories… I’m basically reduced to happy tears.

Let’s talk about the last reason I am not able to keep using my ECLP. My writing. I am currently working on Chloe’s Diary, and Stabbing Diamonds with the very talented DIane Lewis, querying agents, becoming more involved in industry groups like RWA (Romance Writers of America).  And not to mention the follow along with me that I am doing here and on Twitter and Instagram.

There is so much going on that my ECLP didn’t have enough sections for the many sections of my life.  Next post I will show you how, my On The Go Folio (Also from Erin Condren), is exactly what I needed and how I set it up. I’m excited about using a whole new system, But…I am going to miss those covers.