My New Planner and Books

So I had some gift cards to Amazon from Christmas and I used them to invest in my writing. One of the first things I bought was a planner. I realized that I needed a place to write down every day what I had to do so that I could then plan when I would have time to write. Here is the planner I bought:

Now I wasn't thrilled about the cover at first. It was a little too cliché for me but I decided to order it because it had both the monthly view and the weekly view. Plus I liked that each day is broken down by times from 6am to 9pm. That was about then my day started and ended every day. Here is what the weekly view looks like when you open it up:

I have to say that I love it! There is so much in here that is useful. First, there is a section at the beginning for you to list out your goals for the year. Then there is a page for each goal to work out what steps you will take to achieve each goal and what the deadline will be for each step. I spent two hours yesterday planning out my goals, my objectives, my deadlines, and my week. Afterwards I felt ready to conquer the world. I finally feel like I have a plan or at least a place to make a plan.

I still have a lot of work to go and I know that but I no longer feel like I am floundering around in the deep end without a life jacket (excuse the cliché). I also bought a few books because of course any time I want to really learn something (how to ace the PraxisII, how to plan a wedding, how to start a freelance writing career) I buy books on it. So far this strategy has not failed.

The books I will be exploring:

How to Blog a Book by Nina Amir

The Essential Guide to Freelance Writing by Zachary Petit

Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer by Moira Allen

The Poet's Market 2016

The Novel & Short Story Writer's Market 2016

The Writer's Market 2016

The first three books I found on Amazon and in Books-A-Million through google searches and reading reviews. The Writer's Market was suggested by Starting Your Career as a Freelance Writer and I figured I might as well buy the other two. especially since I tend to write mostly poetry and short stories. If my career goes well I may as purchase The Literary Agent Market. But right now I don't believe I have written enough content to need an agent. 

I am very excited!