EMEPiper Ep 2: Day Planners and Time Management

Piper Katee Robin

And it’s here, the second episode of Every Minute, Everywhere: Time Management for Authors with Piper J. Drake.

Confession: I’d intended to get this episode up in February. I had a major contractual deadline loom. The deadline became my highest priority and everything else fell by the wayside. This podcast included. Because the reality is that everything about being a writer is turning in your manuscript (or subsequent edits) to get your book published on time.

There’s a time management reality for you. Tough decision have to be made and we can’t necessarily get All The Things completed in the time we have.

Without further ado, I’m excited to share with you an interview with authors Robin Covington and Katee Robert on time management and using day planners to get organized for 2016.

Highlights:

  • Introductions: Robin Covington & Katee Robert
  • How did we hear about EC Planners?
  • Sticker & washi tape love
  • Tracking word count
  • What one thing would you recommend to an author trying to organize themselves for the year?
  • Stickers and stress management
  • Adaptability, multi-purpose potential in these planners
    • (request to Erin Condren to develop an Author’s Planner line)
  • Plotting, brainstorming, character sheets in the planner
  • Marketing and promotion: managing those timelines with the planner
  • Finding time to write
  • Looking approachable is a double-edged sword
  • Writerly wisdom from Katee and Robin

Because this interview took so long to go up, I contacted Robin and Katee asking them for an update on how they’re doing with organization in 2015?

From Robin?

I love using my ECLP and I’ve been able to easily modify it to fit my needs. I use the coil clips to attach printouts of my book Pinterest boards and my plot outlines when I’m writing a book and I’ve found stickers on Etsy that allow me to change the “morning, day, night” headings to “book, family, to do”. The best part of the planner for me is the two page month spread that shows me at a glance what I need to know.

Robin planner
From Katee?

I’ve finally got my planning method pretty much refined, and now I’m geeking out by working on my handwriting so the whole thing is pretty. Using the planner to keep track of both promotion and writing/editing has made it significantly easier to manage my time overall, and my productivity has gone way up.

Shout-outs:

Commentary from Matt “itsOrD” during the editing process:

  • “She’s a morning writer? She’s weird. Tell her she’s weird.”

You can support EMEPiper and Piper’s other writing-related creative content at patreon.com/piperjdrake.

Check out this episode!

/by