Planners

So with it being the beginning of the year and a lot of people -- myself included -- are trying to get more organized, etc., while also being in the process of trying to get published, I got to wondering.

What kind of planner do you use? Is it one of those Day Timers that you pick up at Staples or Office Max? Or is it a sort-of custom-made one?

What do I mean by that?

On the Organized Writer website, I found where if you sign up for their newsletter, you get an ebook about making the planner.

So I did it. And I added a section to it for "notes". I think this one will work for me because it's geared to writing and related tasks.

I use a Franklin Covey planner. www.fanklincovey.com

I'm going from a more whimsical weekly planner to a serious daily planner. My life got a whole lot busier this year!

I think this one will work for me. My complaint with the others is that I don't feel like I can take a section out or add a new section and have it still function like it's supposed to. So any planners I ever get are almost purposely lost. But one like this should work since I have no one to blame about the way it's setup but myself. lol.

> Re: Planners

I just rented a dominatrix. Each time I express some concern about the frustrations of writing she beats the crap out of me. So far, it's working pretty good.

Re: > Re: Planners

Some people learn better with hands-on methods.

I'm more of a paper person.

Planners? You guys must have complicated lives. I write appointments on my wall calendar. That reminds me, I'd better get this year's calendar pretty soon.

Ah, but the most you could suffer is a paper cut. Haven't we've all been taught that our characters are strengthened by much er slings and arrows?

Her name's Alexandria the Grate. And I'm in love.

You guys must have complicated lives. I write appointments on my wall calendar.

Click to expand...

No. Just poor eyesight. lol. I can't use a wall calendar. I have to have something I can hold close.

Just poor eyesight. lol. I can't use a wall calendar.

Poor eyesight and really big feet?

My Secratary plans my day via Outlook. But I like holding something in my hand (get those nasty thoughts out of you mind) so I write down appointments in my Franklin soft-leather 5" X 11" two-page-per-day binder.

Alas nothing works though, I forget to open both, so I am always getting called or yelled at by my El-Heffe or Secratary.

Sorry to disappoint you, reph. Just poor eyesight. No big feet. lol

Er.....

Depends on who you ask about the big feet thing. My neice would say I have huge feet. But she's just 3.

With poor eyesight and medium feet, you can step right up to the wall and peer at the calendar. That's how I do it when I'm not wearing clown shoes.

Reph, that's way too much effort...

...says Jenna, as she peers down at the wall calendar that she actually removed from the wall and stuck on her desk so it would be within arm's reach.

I use my PDA (an out-dated battery-operated Handspring Visor that will break my heart when it finally gives up the ghost). It has EVERYTHING in it - dates, deadlines, to-do lists, lists of information I need to have handy, addresses/phone numbers for almost everyone I know, articles in progress (that will end up on my PC with my next hotsync), research notes, several ebooks and several books of the Bible, for free time reading... you name it, it's probably on there. I LOVE IT!!

In the process of trying to get organized, I had progressed to a paper planner that was sveral inches thick, weighed 5 lbs, and was far too large to take with me everywhere, so things slipped through the cracks. My PDA will fit in my jeans pocket or any purse I own (even my favorite evening bag) and has an alarm function, to remind me that it';s time to go start dinner or pick up my daughter from work.

It took me several weeks to get all the information from my planeer transferred into my PDA, but I did it, and now all I have to do is spend a few minutes a day bringing it up to date. It's DA BOMB!!! I even invested in a folding keyboard for it, for times when I'm doing a lot of writing with it (on trips or at the library, for example). I do not know how I managed without it before...

I use my PDA-phone (Palm OS) for everything. All my numbers are on it and it syncs with my PC and it dials the number when I click on it, etc. etc. The calendar also syncs with my PC AND my online account. It's the size of a cell phone so I carry it anywhere. Sure it's somewhat expensive but it's worth it.

I'm making the big leap to Tablet PC. I have completed the wireless network of my building so I will be online anywhere and up to 100' outside. It works like a computer and PDA combination with a whole lot of other features I'm exploring. With a headset I am connected to my PBX so it is a portable phone as well as a recorder. With VPN I will be connected at home too.

Just more ways for corporate to get more of my time!

Tablet is great... welcome to the club, RT.

I use a Handspring Visor PDA, just like Betty's I'll bet. I can't live without it. I have all my contacts, gobs of memos with story ideas, etc. in there. You can set it (like any PDA) to play an alarm before an appointment, and it's not much bigger than a deck of cards. I keep it in a clip on holder on my belt. Instant on, unlike these friggin' new gadgets that take longer to start up than a PC.

I use OpenOffice on my laptop and it can save files in the AportisDoc file format, so I can dump chapters or whatever onto the Visor and take them with me, do a little reviewing without having to cart the laptop and all it's acoutrements around.

Geez. All you high-techers! lol. I want to go that route, but I have to wait until I can afford to splurge.

I use paper too, I also like something I can hold. When I used to try to plan on the computer (in a very handy planner program) I just never looked.

I definitely don't have a complicated life but having things written gets me doing them.

I use a DayRunner. I used to use the calendar function in Microsoft Office, but found it easier to have one, portable item to coordinate between the day job, the writing career, and the minimal personal life.

Coincidentally, (honest!) my column this week is going to be about gadgets. I would love to have one of those portable planner things but I didn't just tumble off the turnip truck yesterday.

I'm well aware that those beasties need to be programmed, that the buttons are tiny, the print on the instructions even tinier (not to mention badly translated from the orginal Aramaic) and the probability of Something Very Terrible And Expensive To Fix happening is way better than 50-50.

So I scribble handwritten notes. And then lose them. It's a system that's served me reasonably well for decades.

Heh--Frank, that sounds just like MY system...

I use thousands of tiny, borderline-legible notes scrawled on pieces of envelopes, the backs of ATM slips, cocktail napkins, etc. Then the notes are tucked into a pocket, or perhaps taped to the wall, if I'm feeling organized AND I'm near the wall over my desk AND I can find the tape...or stuck to the center of my computer monitor if it's really, REALLY important.

to Frank and Mac

Oh, come on, you two... I'm so techno-dumb it isn't funny and I figured it out. Really, PDAs are soooooo user-friendly. And you can change the font size on mine (I assume on others, too) and make it really big - granted, you don't have as many words on the screen as otherwise then, but it does no good to have way more words which are (for all intents and purposes) invisible to the naked eye. Really, I'm so glad to be rid of the "write stuff on tiny bits of paper, where did I write that important phone number, oh it's lost, kill me now" system I used to have.

Re: to Frank and Mac

Ha! Can't fool me Betty. You're the techno-goddess who snares smileys from all over the net and inserts them into posts without consulting a manual.

I can, however, reboot my computer. And do.

Often....