This Is Where I Write Stuff.
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Believe it or not, I am now SIX WEEKS into Operation Declutter. That’s right, six weeks. It’s still not anywhere near finished, but you know what, that’s ok. The Easter holidays interrupted progress for a fortnight, as it was pretty impossible to do any […]
The flecks of dust began to gleam in the morning light. Laura glanced across at the moth-eaten sheets that draped across the old wooden bed frame. No one could have been up the stairs of the attic in at least ten years, she thought to […]
It’s been a busy few weeks here. What with the start of the summer holidays and the adjustment to the once in a lifetime heatwave we’ve been experiencing this summer, things have taken a bit of a left turn, writing wise. I’d forgotten how […]
I know, lengthy title.
It feels like it’s been a while since I wrote about something that was on my mind. I write a lot of stuff for other people, and about various topics, but I try to steer clear of content that’s too revealing. I don’t know why but sometimes I feel as though the things I think about are way too difficult for me to fully navigate online. Anyway, I’ve been thinking about this particular topic a lot over the last year or two and I bet I’m not the only person who feels this way, so bear with me as I try to iron it out in plain English.
Before I start though, a preface. I do not believe I’m an arrogant person. That’s not to say that I’m not one; there’s almost certainly people out there who will read this post and take it in that way. I hope that’s not the case, but if it is, then all I can really say to those people is thanks and goodbye.
The things I’m going to discuss here may come across as egotistical; that’s not the intention. I like to think that I’m not that way inclined whatsoever, but again, self-perception isn’t always the greatest yardstick to measure yourself against.
Anyway, onward to the point.
I am one of those people who can do lots of different things. Most of us are, but the majority of us tend to settle their life’s focus into one particular field. They go to school, college, university, whatever, and then use their experiences to progress their chosen career or calling. They use what they’ve learned to its full potential. They fulfil their one potential, the one they have been working towards since they decided upon it at one point or another.
Me? Not so much.
I have spent my entire life doing lots of different things, becoming qualified to do multiple roles and follow different paths, but I’ve never quite settled upon one of them. I really struggled with the idea of concentrating my skills into one particular area for the rest of my life and just doing that. I still really struggle with that notion. It’s why I spend my life juggling 5,000 different plates; one day I’m a teacher, another day I’m a designer, then I’m a writer, artist, gamer, rugby player, languages specialist, business owner and anything in between.
Some days I wonder what would have happened to me if I’d stuck it out in one particular role, and then other days I thank my lucky stars that I didn’t.
A life of what-ifs and a routine of multiple potentialities is something I think a lot of us can struggle with. I loathe the idea of not fulfilling my potential. I detest the thought of going to my grave not having given everything a go, knowing that I could do many different things with my time on this earth and for whatever reason not doing them. So I try and do all of the different things I’m capable of all at once; juggling the different identities like a circus freak who can’t decide which mask to wear on any given day.
Its exhausting, but I’ve come to realise that it’s just the way I am. The way my mind works. I just want to do all of the things; yet sometimes this causes such internal conflict and indecision that I know at some point I need to narrow things down and choose a path. I hate this idea.
At the moment, my path is of the writer and designer. I’m shelving some of my other potentialities to concentrate on these two. And yet almost subconsciously, I’ve found myself starting something new yet again; the world of live streaming and vlogging. I’ve never done this before, but now, because I’m trying to focus on one or two aspects of my potential alone, my brain is screaming at me to try new things, do more, go for something different.
Cheers, brain.
Why am I like this? It’s almost as though something inside me refuses to let me settle on one thing at a time. Multiple projects all at once drive me to distraction, but it’s the only way I can seem to operate.
There are so many aspects to what I could do that it’s diluting the outcomes of what I am actually doing. I haven’t written a post on here in a couple of weeks. I’m getting distracted from my goal of finishing the first draft of my book. Focus is hard for everyone, but incredibly hard for someone like me.
Entering the thirtyhood has made me reassess my perspective on everything, but in particular the direction my life has taken. I’m often really hard on myself for not having achieved stellar things, for not having seen as much of the world as I’d have liked, or for not having done more of the things I think I’m capable of. But this isn’t healthy. It’s stopping me from being content with my lot – and I’ve got a nice little lot compared to many.
The question is, where do you strike the balance between contentment and achievement?
I came across the work of Emilie Wapnick recently – if you haven’t heard of her then you need to watch her Ted talk on being a ‘multipotentialite’. What she said struck such a chord with me I couldn’t believe it. It was like hearing someone articulate every thought I’ve ever had about myself in under 15 minutes. I am one hundred percent a multipotentialite.
Learning to navigate the constant change of my life’s focuses has been really difficult at times. I’ve often felt like a failure for wanting to shut the door on things that no longer drove me. I’ve felt the guilt and confusion of not having ‘a real job’. Every single day I consider my life to be a messy amalgamation of the different aspects of what I want to do.
I don’t think I have one true calling. I think I’m made up of too many headache-inducing, coloured components to ever live my life in black and white.
I wonder how many of you feel the same.
Let me know your thoughts below – I’d love to know how many of you can empathise with what I’m talking about. Are you a multipotentialite too?
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Bullet Journals. Heard of them? If you’re not an Instagram or Pinterest aficionado, chances are you may not have done. But having a bullet journal is an excellent way to get on top of your productivity and creative output – especially if you’re a writer.
I only started using bullet journals this month and in the 21 days we’ve had of June so far, I’ve managed to produce more work, in a focused manner, than I have in the whole of the year to date. I’ve accomplished at least five things every single day, including making a start on my book. I know, I’m shocked too.
So I thought it would be helpful to share my thoughts on bullet journals, and how you can get started with your own as well! And even luckier for you, I’ve got some quick-start resources for you to get your own gorgeously helpful bullet journals on the go as soon as possible. Interested? Well, let’s get into it!
Ok, first thing’s first. Before you start anything, you’ll need to put some time aside to set your journal up properly. I’d recommend having separate bullet journals for separate topics. For example, I have one that’s purely dedicated to my writing work, and another that’s for my day-to-day life. If I mix them up it all starts to look like just another to-do list and then that becomes something ‘too much’, that I can easily ignore. A bullet journal should be a hybrid of tasks and scrapbooking; the nicer it looks, the more likely you are to keep using it.
So firstly, you’ll need the actual journals themselves. My advice here would be to go for plain paper as opposed to lined, because with a bullet journal, half the fun is the creativity. You want space to doodle, design and craft! You can use any old basic notebook to start with, or if you’d like to jump right in with something ready to use, colourful and pretty, check out these gorgeous planner kits which come with lots of accessories built in for you to mix and match with.
It’s a bit like being back in the classroom, but grab yourself a pencil case and fill that beauty up with pencils, pens, a rubber and a ruler. You’ll be surprised at how theraputic bullet journalling can be; the act of using pen and paper again in a world filled with digital media is super satisfying. It’s also a bit of an eye-opener – many of the skills you take for granted may need revisiting, such as handwriting (mine’s dreadful nowadays) and using rulers to create tables. Seriously though, when was the last time you used a ruler? I think it must’ve been about 2001 for me!
Get yourself some nice pens. No, really. I use calligraphy markers and a set of coloured fineliners as well as my bog standard ballpoint pens in my notebooks. It sounds airy fairy, but having the right tools for the job makes a huge difference. Your bullet journals need to be something you enjoy adding to and decorating, plus the psychology of colour is important here too; bright bold visuals draw your eye and attention and really make that task come to the forefront of your mind. I tend to avoid red and green when I set my tasks out, purely because it reminds me too much of having your work marked at school, but you can use whatever colours work to make you focus on the tasks at hand. I love pastel inks – these ones are ideal for bush lettering, whereas your writing and doodling would be better suited to art fineliners like these Spectrum markers. I also have the broad nib version of these pens and they look so vibrant compared to standard inks.
Now, while I absolutely believe that making these books look pretty is important, its equally important that you don’t get so hung up on making them look nice that you forget the main aim of these journals: to get stuff done.
Here comes the science bit. The main concept behind the #bujo movement is that it’s a tool to help you do more, and for writers, that’s always a good thing. There are loads of different ways that you can setup your bullet journal, as well as loads of different layouts – you can check some of them out over on my Pinterest board, but this is how I’ve laid mine out for my writing goals.
Firstly, you need to set up your whole book by numbering the pages, front and back. Leave two blank pages at the front (i.e. don’t number these), because these will be used as your index pages. For the rest, stick a page number in the bottom corner of each one.
Now, go to the second blank page you created and title it ‘Goals‘. We’ll come back to this in a minute.
Head to the first double page spread. Mine is on pages 2 and 3. Title these two ‘Future Log‘. Then, on your next double page spread, write the name of the month you’re in as the title. For me, this was June. These pages are known as your ‘Monthly Log’. Down the side of the first monthly log page, write the number and initial letter of the day you’re on right now and continue this list, vertically, in date order. If you’re near to the end of a month, just set it up for the one that’s coming next and start at day one. It should look a little like this:
JUNE
5T (Tuesday 5th)
6W (Wednesday 6th)
7T (Thursday 7th)
8F (Friday 8th)
9S (Saturday 9th)
10S (Sunday 10th)
11M (Monday 11th)
Make sense?
Not spending too much time on this just yet, make a quick note of any important reminders or things that need to be done next to each of these listed dates. You can come back to this and add to it later and as the month goes by. On the page opposite this one, put the name of the month in a bubble in the middle of the page; you’ll use this to create a spider diagram or mind-map of all the things you can think of that you want to achieve in that month.
Now you need to go back to the page you titled ‘Goals’. Set yourself three writing goals; long term, medium term and short term. They can be as vague or as detailed as you like, but don’t make them too unrealistic. They could look something like this:
Again, your specific goals for writing will depend on the work you’re doing, but always keep them in mind and refer back to them to keep you on target. I’d suggest making your ‘Goals’ page one of your most decorative and colourful, otherwise it’ll become easy to forget about! For mine, I used metallic markers and glitter pens to really make my goals stand out. You could add pictures or photographs of your family to help keep you focused on why you’re doing all this – it’s completely up to you, but make this page stand out!
Now, head to the next two pages, the ones you titled ‘Future Log‘. Grab your ruler and divide each page into six horizontal sections. Then label each one with the months of the year, starting from where you are now. You can lay this out differently if you wish, but I found it simplest to divide it up this way.
You’ll use this part of the journal to roughly plan out your 12 month strategy for writing. I set myself a target of writing 300 words a day, and worked backwards from there, dividing my time into realistic chunks each month. If I can stick to the plan, I should be able to produce one chapter each month until next March, by which time (hopefully), I’ll have 10 chapters of the first draft of my book completed. If you factor in other variables, such as work commitments and events, you can soon see how having a bullet journal is going to help keep you on task to get that writing done.
Now you’ve set out your year’s writing plan, you can go back to your monthly log pages. Fill in the list of dates and mind-map anything that you think is important for that month. Now, your next page should be titled with the date of the day you’re on. From here you’ll create a daily diary of tasks, using a system known as ‘rapid logging’. This, basically, is just what it says on the tin; you rapidly log the things you want to do that day, using a code to categorise things.
The code has five symbols, as follows:
° Event
– Note
X Completed
> Migrated (moved onto the next day)
Use this code each day and set yourself a few daily tasks. Add in any events and notes as you need to. I usually give myself five small tasks a day, and cross them off with an ‘X’ as I complete them. If I can’t get everything done for whatever reason, I use the ‘>’ symbol to move it over into the next day.
And it’s really as simple as that! The more you do it, the more natural it becomes and you’ll soon see how much you’ve actually managed to achieve by having a small checklist of things each day. Being able to visualise your tasks really does make a difference to the likelihood of actually getting them done, so don’t be afraid to be colourful and bold with your tasks each day. I usually set out my basic daily log quite fast each day, using my coloured fineliners, and then I add to it as the day progresses.
There are lots of different logs or ‘collection’ layouts you can add to your bullet journals, for example to track your daily fitness efforts or to track how many breaks you’ve taken from your computer, for example. You can find out more about these by checking out my Pinterest board. For a purely writing-focused bullet journal, extra collections I’d include might be a daily vocabulary builder, a reading list, or perhaps a storyboard section at the back. The beauty of using bullet journals for writing is that you can personalise them entirely to your writing goals.
Don’t be afraid to get creative either. Bullet journaling isn’t that different from scrapbooking, and there are loads of papercraft and decorative resources you can use to embellish your writing journal and really bring it to life. If you’re feeling inspired to get started right away, grab yourself some supplies at CraftStash and you can get double loyalty points and free delivery on everything today – so get yourself kitted out with some new pens and sparkly bits for your journals!
So there you have it, a beginner’s guide to bullet journals and why you really need one in your life if you’re working on a writing goal. It’s making a massive difference to me, so I’d love to hear from you if you’ve used them too. Have you had a bullet journal before? What would be your tips to a new user? Leave your thoughts in the comment box below or you can pop over to Twitter and let me know.
