fbpx

I am not a planner by nature. Instead, planning is a skill I’m nurturing, especially this month. I’ve set aside time to rest, recharge, and reevaluate the work I’m doing. To consider what, if anything, needs to change. To determine what I want to focus on moving forward. I’ve spent time in solitude, I’ve prayed, and I’ve listened for the still small voice of the Spirit.

I stepped almost completely back from work for the first half of November. One result is an abbreviated Tips & Tools.

Come January, I will encourage you to follow my lead. To rest after the hustle of the holidays. To look to the year ahead and spend time reevaluating the work you’re doing. To consider what, if anything, needs to change. To determine what you want to focus on moving forward. I’ll encourage you to pray and listen for the still small voice of the Spirit.

When we pray and listen as we plan, we may find God leads us in unexpected directions.

After spending time intentionally praying about my business, it became clear that, at least for now, it’s time to let go of the coaching services I’ve offered for more than a decade. You may find this change as wholly unexpected as I have. I am at peace with the decision. God has called me to write and to work with writers, but over the last two years, I have neglected one calling as I’ve focused on the other. It is time to find a way to balance both and to find my way back to writing fiction. I will continue offering critiques, developmental edits, workshops, courses, and my newsletters.

If you are one of my current coaching clients, our relationship will continue uninterrupted. If you’re a former client interested in picking up where we left off, email me, and we’ll consider options.

Although planning is not one of my natural strengths, I’ve learned several things about that skill over the last year. Here are my top tips for making a solid plan:

      • Schedule time to plan. The necessity of doing so is why I’m inviting you to set aside time to plan in January.

      • Planning and resting work well in tandem. When you are rested, your mind is clear, your energy focused.

      • Discuss your work, ideas, and goals with wise and trusted family members, friends, or peers. Input is valuable.

      • Survey your readers regarding the content you’re providing. Determine whether the work you’re doing is meeting the needs of your audience.

      • Find a paper or digital planner that works well for you. I finally found a planner that I’m using consistently. The Full Focus Planner includes everything I need to plan my year and is my recommendation for you to consider if you’re looking for a planner.

Now, it’s your turn. If planning is one of your innate skills, I welcome your top tips for planning and nurturing a writing and work life, including any systems you use effectively. Share your tips in the comments section of this post on my blog. Let’s learn from one another.

Words For Writers

Receive your FREE Steps For Success, blog posts, and occasional updates when you subscribe to Words For Writers.

In All Circumstances

Do you sometimes wish for things you don’t possess? Do you long for gifts you haven’t received? Each morning, I set out from my house in search of unobstructed views. I walk, hoping to find vistas where beauty beckons. Where the breeze whispers reminders. Of purpose...

Five Lessons from the Road to Publication

I pulled into the cabin’s driveway, put my car in park, and turned off the ignition. I stared into the inky night. The giant redwoods that surrounded the cabin, boughs stretched wide, offered strength and steadfastness in the light of day. But at night, they loomed.  ...

Rest + Community

Last week marked the end of a very long, busy summer of packing up my house and moving. Finally mostly settled, I put my to-do list aside and hopped in my car for a 45-minute drive across town to meet two other busy writers for lunch. A long lunch. A lunch that...

When the Words Refuse to Cooperate

I’ve just closed a Word doc, a summary I was attempting to write for a client who hired me to edit his manuscript—to offer my insights, to guide with suggested changes, to teach by crafting examples. But as I participated in the familiar write-and-delete dance,...

Our Hope

Division, war, plagues, famine, death. Disregard for human life. A people who’ve turned their faces from God. This is the suffering recounted in the Old Testament. Job, David, Isaiah, Jeremiah… Their written words were a path for their pain.  Their laments a cry to...

The Plague of Perfectionism

  Several Tuesday mornings ago, following a restless night, I woke late to face an overfull day. I got up, poured my cup of coffee, then climbed back into bed and reached for my phone with the intent of opening my Bible app. But instead, I opened my email app....

Produce. Perform. Perfect.

There is no need to produce or perform or perfect—simply become a place for God. Ann Voskamp, The Greatest Gift   Produce. Perform. Perfect. Produce your daily word count. Craft your message. Plot your novel. Create content: blog posts, podcast episodes, newsletters,...

Another Mindset that Keeps Writers Stuck

Don’t you hate it when a sentence slips out of your mouth before you’ve run it through the wisdom filter? I hate it when that happens. And it happened not long ago. I'll set the scene for you: A writers’ conference. A panel of esteemed agents. And a comment from one...

The Comparison Crash

In January 2010, I sold my first book to a publisher. Since then, I’ve written six additional full-length novels, and I’ve built a business. But over the last decade I also endured a MAJOR back surgery, seven additional surgeries, the breakup of my 29-year marriage,...

How Will You Use Your Writers Voice?

  Dear Writer, How will you use your writer’s voice during this unprecedented time of global concern? Perhaps, like me, you’ve hesitated to add to the conversation—the din of information is nearly deafening. In fact, the MIT Review declared an “infodemic” at the...