Most of the writers I know are always on the lookout for the best way to keep track of all their ideas, snippets of dialogue they overheard in a cafe, release dates and promotion plans, not to mention deadlines – and all the day to day life stuff that gets forgotten when we’re up against one!
Combined with a seemingly universal love of stationery, the most common answer to the question ‘how do I organise my life?’ seems to be: a notebook. Or, many, many pretty notebooks.
Bullet journalling takes that notebook love, and that need to organise, one step further.
Since January is Get Organised month, I thought I’d kick off with a couple of blogs on how bullet journalling works, and why it’s great for writers.
In today’s post, I’m writing about:
How I started bullet journalling
What is bullet journalling anyway?
Why is bullet journalling great for writers?
Where can I find out more?
How I started bullet journalling
I’m an organisation junkie. Which is not to say that I’m always incredibly organised – just that I’m always trying to get better at it.
As a child, I kept notebooks with plans and schemes in. Packing lists for holidays (mostly books, and always the entry ‘this notebook!!’) or budget breakdowns of how many green biros my pocket money would buy me. But I’d never remember to put homework details in my school-provided planner, or get it signed at the end of the week – probably because it wasn’t pretty enough.
In university, I filled notebook after notebook with daily to do lists including everything from ‘write essay’ to ‘find clean pants.’ When I started work, I embraced spreadsheets and project plans – but I still always carried a notebook with me, for things that didn’t fit into the pre-defined columns and lists.
I don’t remember quite when I first read about bullet journalling, but I know it was quite soon after the website went up. I’m basically the opposite of an early adopter, so I looked at it, thought ‘cool,’ then went back to doing what I was doing before, perhaps incorporating a few of the ideas I’d found there.
But in January 2016 something changed, and I embraced the system more completely. Of course, the joy of bullet journalling is that it’s a system you make your own – it works your way, rather than you adjusting to work with it. My own personal methods and system have varied and shifted over time but now, three years in, I feel I have a good handle on what works for me and why.
What is bullet journalling anyway?
Bullet journalling is a system of note taking, planning, journalling and organised first developed by Ryder Carrol, mostly as a way to take charge of his ADHD brain. I had the good fortune to hear Ryder talk in London last year, and it was fascinating hearing the story of how this very personal system spread and developed to become other people’s highly personalised system!
At its simplest, Bullet Journalling allows you to log the events, tasks and moments in your life, every day, whether that takes a few lines or a few pages. Basically, each day you write the date on the page, then as your day progresses you note down things that are planned, need to be done, or happen.
Beyond that, you can add a future log for forward planning, ‘collections’ (pages devoted to notes or planning on a single topic), and an index to be able to find your notes again when you need them.
There’s more to it, of course – and it can be as complicated and as creative as you make it – but that’s the heart of it. There are plenty of resources out there to help you set up your own journal, so I won’t repeat them here. In fact, the best explanation of bullet journalling is from Ryder Carrol himself, here: https://bulletjournal.com/pages/learn. Go have a read or watch the video if you’re unfamiliar with the system.
But if you’re itching to get started, all you really need is a notebook (I like hardbound, A5, dotted journals, like the ones from Scribbles That Matter or Leuchtturn 1917), a pen, and maybe a pencil, eraser and ruler. That’s it.
Why is bullet journalling great for writers?
Almost every writer I know has a love of stationery and general and notebooks in particular. And even if you’re one of the exceptions, there’s good evidence to support the idea that just writing things down makes us pay them more attention, remember them better later, and feel more in control.
But if the evidence isn’t enough to convince you to go analogue, here are some other reasons why bullet journalling suits the writing life so well:
It’s flexible
Writers tend to be juggling real life alongside writing – and possibly a day job too. For myself, I know that the lines between the different areas of my life are too easily blurred: I’m as like to be hit by a new idea at the soft play with my kids as at my desk, and the number of times I’ve had to take an important phone call half way through the supermarket shop, or in the middle of exploring a Welsh castle, is higher than I’d like too.
One of the strengths of bullet journalling as an organisational system is that it doesn’t try to partition my life into neat little boxes that parts keep trying to escape from. It’s a one-life, one-planner system, and that suits my lifestyle very well.
On any given day, my to do list can range from one item (finish the damn book, usually) to thirty or more separate actions covering work, family, myself, and my home. With a bullet journal, if I need half a page or three pages to cover my day, that’s fine. I’m not limited by pre-printed boxes or dates.
It also helps me to overcome certain perfectionist tendencies. In the past, the need to keep a notebook perfectly organised – with sections for plotting or characters, or a different notebook for each story – could be paralysing. Now, I just start with the next blank page and add content I want to be able to find again to my index. It’s incredibly freeing.
It’s creative
One of the things that can put people off starting a bullet journal is the array of beautifully designed, drawn and decorated pages they see on social media when they start searching for other people’s journals. That’s not what I mean by creative. (Although, if drawing beautiful spreads fulfils an artistic need in you, provides relaxation and satisfaction, or just makes you happy – then that’s another bonus!)
What I mean is that somehow, putting pen to paper can open up other thoughts and ideas than fingers on the keyboard sometimes. Sitting down and writing actual words, seeing them laid out on the page, can make you think about ideas and even to dos in a different way. And just letting the brain open up and flow directly onto the page, without overthinking, can be magical. Whether it’s getting out everything you already have in your head about the story you’re about to writing – and learning some new things in the process – or just throwing out there every random idea you have of things you’d like to do or stories you want to write. Try getting it down on paper and see how your brain warms up and starts adding new ideas to the pile.
Setting up your own planner also means that you get to decide what’s important to you. There are no rules about which spreads or pages you have to include in your bullet journal. And conversely, there’s no limit to the ones you can include! Want to track your reading? Add a ‘Reading List’ collection. Want to keep a running list of potential character names? Shove it in your bullet journal somewhere and you’ll always have it when you’re searching for the perfect name for your next heroine. World building? Draw a map. Your bullet journal won’t mind.
It keeps you accountable, and your goals manageable
The number one thing you can do to make it more likely you’ll achieve your goals is to write them down. Even if you never looked at them again, research shows you’d still be ahead in the odds of those people who never put pen to paper. And if you do keep looking at them regularly, checking in on your progress, tracking your habits and breaking goals down into manageable tasks? Then you are on your way to flying, my friend.
A journal you look at every day is the perfect place to keep your goals – and keep track of your progress. Want to read a hundred books this year? Break that down to 8 or 9 books a month, and set up a system for tracking them in your journal.
Want to write a book but terrified to even start? Start with the goal. Write it down, and give yourself a deadline. Then break that goal down into its component tasks: research, planning, writing, revising, researching agents etc. Give each task a timeframe and, for the bigger ones like writing a first draft, set up a tracker to keep you on target. Knowing you need to write 5,000 words this week, or 1,000 words today, is a lot less daunting than the idea of a whole book.
Of course there are plenty of other systems you can use for goal setting and tracking. But seeing it in ink on paper makes it more permanent somehow that a changeable, electronic system. Which isn’t to say you can’t change your goals, or your schedule for meeting them. But it does make you think twice before you do it. Are you sure you can’t just write 500 more words today…?
Where can I find out more?
If you’re inspired to give bullet journalling a go, here are some resources to check out:
- The original Bullet Journal site from Ryder Carrol
- Tiny Ray of Sunshine and Boho Berry – two longterm bullet journallers, and two of my favourites!
- Instagram – check out #bulletjournal and lose the next three hours of your life… but don’t get intimidated by the incredibly artistic pages showcased!
- Pinterest – a search for Bullet Journalling will give you hundreds of pictures and articles of inspiration, instruction and ideas for pages and collections
For me, my journal is my brain outside my head. I absolutely use digital systems for some areas, but when it comes to thinking my way through a problem or figuring out what I need to do next, nothing beats pen and paper for me. If you’re the same, I’d definitely suggest giving bullet journalling a go. (And if you’ve already tried it before but struggled to make it stick, give this a read: https://bulletjournal.com/blogs/bulletjournalist/back-to-the-basics.)
Next time, I’ll be taking a more thorough flip through some of my journals to show exactly how I’ve incorporated the ideas above into my writing life – and also covering the times that I think a paper journal just can’t beat digital.
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