Writing Grit: Use a Bullet Journal to Keep Your Writing on Track

The bullet journal (#bujo) is one of my favourite discoveries of the past year. So much so that I often wonder how I managed to maintain a semi-organized and productive life without one. Each year, I used to scour book and stationary stores looking for the perfect organizer to serve my vast and varied needs, only to shill out an unreasonable amount of cash on a less than ideal option. I've used calendars, and spreadsheets, and numerous apps in an attempt to keep organized. Individually, each was lacking in some way. Altogether, it was too cumbersome to manage. Plus, I really missed the sense of calm and satisfaction I get from physically writing things down.

And then, while mindlessly scrolling Pinterest one evening, I stumbled across a simple -- yet ingenious -- concept: the bullet journal. The bullet journal and corresponding "rapid logging" system was created by a digital product designer named Ryder Carroll. You can learn more about Carroll's concept here, but basically, his intent was to create a note-taking system that would allow a person to track/record the same information as traditional notetaking, with minimal time and effort. It's "the analog system for the digital age."

The joy of the bullet journal is that it is entirely customizable. It can be whatever you want it to be: a journal, a calendar, a to-do list, a progress tracker, a daily/weekly/monthly planner, a sketchbook, and oh so much more.

Starting a bullet journal

Creating your own bullet journal is easy to do. You buy a blank notebook (I recommend the Leuchtturm 1917 medium-sized dotted notebook) and some quality, smudge-proof pens.

There are really only two (mostly) necessary components to your journal: a key and an index.

The key is where you keep track of your symbols and their associated meanings. It's the guide for your personal shorthand that you'll use throughout the book. For example, you might use the following symbols to track progress of your tasks:

• [ ] = new task
• [/] = in progress
• [X] = complete
• [>] = migrated/postponed

The index is, well, an index. You use is to keep track of which page numbers your different topics/subjects appear on. This way, you can keep progressing through your bullet journal page by page, without having to guess how many pages you need to set aside for things like daily planners, or reading logs, or your Steemit goals.

Once you have those pages established, the rest is entirely up to you. Google (and Pinterest) will provide you with endless page ideas for your journal. I use my personal bullet journal to track weekly to-do lists and meal plans, habits I want to develop/improve, my Crossfit personal bests and fitness goals, my Steemit goals (followers, steem earnings), books I want to read, and much more.

Bullet journals for writers

There are numerous ways to use a bullet journal as a tool to support your writing. How you choose to do so will depend largely on your personal writing goals and projects. For example, if you're working on a novel, your may bullet journal pages may include character summaries, plot outlines/details and charts tracking your daily writing goals/progress.

As a Steemit author, you might use your bullet journal to track your posts by topic, your earnings, lists of your favourite fellow Steemians, ideas for future posts, and your posting targets.

Here is a laundry list of other bullet journal page ideas for writers:

• ideas: stories, characters, scenes, dialogue, etc.
• short- and long-term writing goals
• daily progress: time, word count, scenes, chapters
• submissions
• an editorial calendar
• sources/contacts: agents, editors, publishers, etc.
• financial goals
• project plans
• check lists
• vision boards/brainstorming sessions
• character details
• inspiration: quotes, images
• research: questions, resources, facts
• social media/promotion

If you're looking for an effective system to help keep your life, and your writing, on track, I highly recommend trying a bullet journal. Don't worry about making it look pretty -- although you can. Don't worry about messing up. Just do it. Because it feels great to be able to check those items off your lists, to have a visual of what's going on in your life so that you can make adjustments as needed, and to see your progress toward your goals -- writing or otherwise.

I've been keeping a bullet journal for about a year now. And life has never been better. ;-)

If you enjoyed this post, upvote, resteem and follow @redhens. You might also enjoy some of my other recent posts:

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