The First Week

I don't know if it's because I'm tapping into some sort of New Year Energy, but I wanted to post a little something to mark the end of the first week of 2023. 😊

(I'm really hoping this is the year when the world moves away from the ridiculous.🤞)

Anyway, Monday was a public holiday so we enjoyed the last day of hubby's break. On Tuesday, he went back to work and I got stuck into several small writing projects.

Firstly, I completed the third draft of a short story I wrote late last year but got pushed aside because of NaNoWriMo and revision. Then, I tweaked the beginning of one of the novellas (formerly a novel) I revised last year. And even re-read an old 5k short story I wanted to tighten.

I ended that day with a bunch of file/photo/pics updates, and setup a new tracking words/pages spreadsheet.

The next day, I completed the final read of my (pushed-aside) shortie and finalised it. Ended up being just below 4k words. Initially, I was going to file it away in my Completed Folder, but found a submission call that totally fits this weird, little tale. So, fingers crossed.

That day, I also finished reading a book.

On Thursday, I spent most of the morning updating my submission calls list. I subbed several stories and queries, and got a rejection for one only hours later. Rs always suck, but as I mentioned on Twitter... I'm trying not to self-reject.

It's hard when the market is swamped and every submission call gets hundreds of subs to fill a small amount of places, but I want to at least try. Last year I did a lot of: Yeah, I'm gonna sub to this, this, and this, only to let time slip away before I could send anything because a voice deep inside kept telling me not to bother. Well, that voice is wrong. I want to send my stories to places. It might be a longshot, but I want to try.

Besides, now that I've cleared my Revision Plan, I want to see if I can get some of those stories out there. See if anyone's interested.

Asides from all of this writing stuff, I also FINALLY sorted out my Moleskine Planner. It was something I'd been meaning to do for several weeks. 😬

It's funny how much I managed to achieve during a week when every single morning, as soon as I woke up, all I wanted to do was go back to sleep. Yeah, that's strange for me in the middle of summer, but I had a break hangover. Plus, this shitty rainy weather isn't helping. *yawn*

Well, I think that's enough from me.

Have a good one!

My New Planner

If you've ever read my blog at the beginning of the year, then you know that a New Year also means a New Planner.

Last year I went with this Peanuts design:

 And this year I picked this one... 

The Frida Kahlo Moleskine planner selection is bright and beautiful.

This particular Moleskine is my favourite format. It has One Page for a week with Opposite Blank Page on the other side. I love being able to keep a record of everything I do daily on the left (calendar side), and then add more detailed notes on the right (lined page).

Today, I spent most of the morning filling this lovely planner with important dates, my goals, stickers, washi tape, and updates. I also closed off the 2022 Peanuts planner and filed it away.

I'm usually more organised than this, but there aren't enough hours in the day! Anyway, it's done now and ready for use. 😁

Do you have a planner? 

My New Planner

If you've ever read my blog at the beginning of the year, then you know that a New Year also means a New Planner.

Last year I went with this awesome Alice in Wonderland design:

And this year I picked this one... 

Back to Peanuts it is. 😁

This particular Moleskine is my favourite format. It has One Page for a week with Opposite Blank Page on the other side. I love being able to keep a record of everything I do daily on the left (calendar side), and then add more detailed notes on the right (lined page).

Now I'm ready to fill my planner with important dates, stickers, washi tape and most importantly: the progress of my goals. 

What about you? Do you use a planner? 

If you do... Happy planning! 😃

My New Planner

If you've read my blog during the last few years, then you know that for me a New Year also means a New Planner. 

Last year I went with the Star Wars Millennium Falcon design:

And this year I picked this one...

I ❤ this one because it's so appropriate at the moment. 😁

This particular Moleskine is my favourite format. It has One Page for a week with Opposite Blank Page on the other side. I love being able to keep a record of everything I do daily on the left (calendar side), and then add more detailed notes on the right (lined page). 

Now I'm ready to fill my planner with important dates, stickers, washi tape and most importantly: the progress of my goals. 

What about you? 

Do you use a planner? 

If you do...

Happy planning!

😊

My New Planner

If you've been reading my blog during the last few years, then you know that a New Year means a New Planner. 

Last year I went with a very cool denim design:

And this year I picked this one...

This particular Moleskine is my favourite format. It has One Page for a week with Opposite Blank Page on the other side. I love being able to keep a record of everything I do daily on the left (calendar side), and then take more detailed notes on the right (lined page). 

Now I'm ready to fill my planner with important dates, stickers, washi tape and most importantly, my goals. 😊

What about you? 

Do you use a planner? 

If you do...
Happy planning!

My New Planner

If you've been reading my blog during the last few years, then you know that a New year means a New Planner.

Last year I went back to a Darth Vader Moleskine planner:

But this year I've picked a denim design...

It's actually really cool, and so different to the Star Wars planner of yesteryear.

Also, the cover might be different, but it's still in my favourite format of One Page with Opposite Blank Page. I love being able to keep a record of everything I do daily on the left (calendar side), and then take more detailed notes on the right (lined page).

Now I need to fill it with important dates, add stickers and most importantly, my goals.

Well, what about you?

Do you use a planner?

If you do... Happy planning!  

My New Planner

New year means new planner.

After taking a break last year from Darth Vader Moleskine planners, and using a Peanuts one instead...

This year I've gone back to Vader:

As you can see HERE, I've got a thing for Vader planners. So it was only a matter of time before I went back to the Dark Side. LMAO.

I LOVE this planner style. It's a 12-month Week To One Page with Opposite Blank Page. I love this format because I can keep a record of everything I do daily on the left, and then take more detailed notes on the right. Love it!

 What about you?
Do you use a planner?

Happy planning!  

Let's Talk Planners

For the last few years, I've been using Darth Vader Moleskines.

This is my first Moleskine, which was an 18-month (2014-15) planner:

 

This is my 2016, 12-month planner:

I wasn't kidding when I said I used Darth Vader planners. LOL.

But this year, although I'm still using a 12-month Week To One Page Opposite a Blank Page planner, I've now switched to Peanuts:

I love this format, it's perfect for me because I can record everything on the weekly display page on the left, and then take more detailed notes on the right. I love it!

Now I'm looking forward to filling up this year's Moleskine with as much detail, stickers, updates and washi tape as last year's.

What about you? Are planners something you actually use?

Happy planning!

Meet my Darth Planner

I used to be one of those people who loved the idea of a yearly planner and would buy one, use it during January and then forget all about it. Yeah, that was me. I know there are a lot of people like that, but I think the reason why I did this was because I never found the planner that was perfect for me.

One day to a page was too much. One week to a page not enough. Even a week to two pages didn't keep my interest for long.

Then I discovered a little something called a Moleskine.

While checking out the many lovely designs and inside options, I stumbled upon a planner that featured a Week To One Page Opposite a Blank Page. As soon as I saw it, I knew it was something I would be interested in.

So to start me off, I grabbed an 18-month planner that took me all the way to the end of 2015:

Unlike my previous attempts at trying to remember to add things to the planner before totally abandoning it, I actually used this up until the very last day of the year. As you can see, it's a little swollen on the inside but it kept its shape pretty well and didn't fall apart at all.

When it came to replacing it with a 2016 planner, I debated whether to go for a completely different cover design and even whether I should stick to Star Wars... but of course I did.

Here's the planner I will be using this year:



Although Darth Vader is not one of my favourite Star Wars characters, I find myself gravitating towards his covers. It could just be that I like to have matching covers. Or that it was the one that really caught my eye. Or maybe I'm (slightly) tempted by the Dark Side. :P

Whatever the reason, I'm looking forward to filling up this year's Moleskine with as much detail, stickers, updates and washi tape as last year's.

Happy planning!

Just a few things

Hey, how is everyone today? It's Friday, so I'm cool. Especially since we're heading into a long weekend. Yay.

 

This week has been kinda hard. Because we hit the workouts pretty hard last week, went for a massive city walk on Saturday, and completed our 14 Day Lean Legs Challenge... I was buggered. So tired that I hurt my right arm. Tuesday and Wednesday were pretty shitty because it's really hard to give your right arm a rest when you're right-handed. O_o

 

Anyway, it's feeling a lot better. So I'm glad we'll have three days to relax, instead of two. And that hubby will be home.

 

You know how I really want to blog a lot more than I did last year? Well, so far I've been doing pretty good. I mean, the aim of the goal isn't to blog every single day, but a lot more than a few times a month. So far, so good. And the other day I was thinking about how it would be awesome if I could keep track of when/what I was blogging. I thought about it for a while and decided that I would start a new notebook just for that, when I remembered that I have a totally awesome planner.

 

So, this is what I decided to do:

 

 

There are two pages like this at the beginning of the planner with the title Timetable. I don't need a timetable, but I totally love the format. There's enough space to list the weeks, dates and spaces to jot down the blog titles. So, there you go! Love it.

 

I'm glad I thought of this now that it's the beginning of the year.

 

So, the FLEs for DASH didn't come in this week. And while I toyed with the idea of getting started on some revision, like I mentioned above, I just wasn't in the mood. Sitting in front of the computer for hours with a sore arm isn't ideal. Instead, I caught up on some reading.

 

FYI, this year I'll be taking part in this:

 

 

So drop in tomorrow for your chance to win some Sierra Fox eBooks. 



Well, that's it for today. I just wanted to drop in for a little update and to share my latest Planner Idea. I really love this SW Moleskine Planner. :)

 

Have an awesome weekend!

My Daily Planner

Hey, how are you today? Hope you all had a great weekend. I certainly did.

Monday morning sucks, so I thought it might be nice to brighten it up by posting about something nice.

Last year I decided that instead of having a bunch of random To-Do Lists lying around on post-it notes and scrap pieces of paper, I was going to have a daily planner/diary/journal hybrid. So I picked up a cheap but nice notebook from K-Mart and set up my own system. It consisted of some parts bullet journal and a lot of parts smash journal.

Not only did I want to have a notebook to jot down Lists (love making lists) but I also wanted to be able to stick pictures in, write down quotes, list the books I bought/read. It was a place for me to add just about anything I wanted to.

This is it:

 

It worked out pretty well and helped me keep a record of a lot of things, including important/relevant dates, ideas, goals and word counts. But there was something about it... Although this makeshift notebook was great, I still wasn't satisfied. It wasn't what I really wanted.

 

Let me back up a little. I like planner/diaries, but I'm also very fussy. I find that a Day To a Page is too much, and a Week to Two Pages isn't enough. I want a calendar format, but also some room to add my own notes. So when I found out that there was a Moleskine planner that actually has a Week To One Page and also a blank page, I had to check it out.

 

After some research, I ended up buying this:

 

 

This turned out to be everything I'd always wanted in a planner. A place where I can jot down daily goals, events, appointments, and things I do on one side. Then on the other page, there's enough room for notes, stickers, doodling, To-Do Lists, and anything else I feel like writing down.

 

This one happens to be for 18 months. Although these dates suited me perfectly this time around, I will be switching to 12 months when 2015 is over.

 

This is what the inside looks like:

 

 

See, this is perfect for me!

 

Like other Moleskine journals, there's also an expandable inner pocket at the back:

 



The Star Wars theme is a nice touch. ;)

 

I've developed a bit of a Moleskine obsession during the past year and have a variety of lovely notebooks. Some are just too pretty to write in, but I do have one ready to become my writing/ideas journal. But that's a post for another day. LOL.

 

And wherever my planner goes, so does my trusty pencil case full of pens:

 

 

Well, that's about it. I just wanted to share a few pics and features about my SW planner. It's just so ideal and lovely, that I had to write something about it. I love sharing info about nice, lovely things that are also practical.

 

 

 Have a nice day!