Week 6 of Bullet Journal Reboot -- 11.28.2016

This is Week 6 of using my Bullet Journal again. I am loving it more and more each day.

What worked?

Everything. 

What didn’t work/was annoying?

Nothing.

What did I change?

Nothing.

What will I change?

Oh, My Goodness!  I have joined several Facebook groups for Bullet Journaling. Besides being some of the nicest, most caring, and most creative folks, they are willing and eager to share their ideas. I have also poked around on the Internet. I am SO EXCITED – I made a totally different weekly spread AND it has a Dutch Door. (There will be photos!)

Recently, through my Bullet Journal, I have re-discovered my creativity for areas other than writing. I don’t draw and I don’t do fancy lettering (although I am thinking of poking at free resources on the Internet to change that). However, I can use stickers and pull pieces of different spreads together to make them work for me.

This is the first page of my new spread:

One of the reasons I went to a spread with less room to list tasks every day is something I have discussed on this blog before I tend to over schedule my days. This spread only has four lines for tasks per day, making it less likely that I will overschedule since I WON’T make a task that says “Do all the things!”

This is photo of the second page of my new spread:

As you can see, I made a list of the things I want to get done this week. Each night, when I do my Wrap and Map (wrapping up the day and mapping out the next day), I will put a few tasks on the next day’s spread. I think this is a good plan and I am happy with the concept. I don’t know if it will be effective – I’ll try and report next week!

Last night, when I turned off my electronics and picked up my BuJo, I realized that I have some things I do every day that I want to see in front of me to remind me to do them and then give me the satisfaction of knowing I have done them and checked them off. There was no place to do that in the new spread. OOPS!

Then I remembered seeing spreads with what they call a Dutch Door – and I made one!

This morning, after I did my Journaling, I found these little stars and decided to use them instead of check marks or coloring in the boxes.

 On the other side of the Dutch Door, I made an “Unlisted Tasks Done” column. I have the two inside columns blank. I may fill them as the week goes on and I think of what might work on them. At this moment, I can’t think of anything.

General accountability:

This is the last week of NaNoWriMo. I have written every day. I hit 50K on November 18^th. I am still writing. I still have my eye on that badge generated by the NaNo site for writing every day. I want it. We’ll see if I can do that this year. I also decided I needed a new goal to motivate me to get to Wednesday in style – I am now shooting for 70K.

I will do an assessment of November and goals for December next week. I hope this week brings you joy and many creative outlets!

Bright Blessings   – Cedar

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page: 

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

and my new page for my new business venture:

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleOwingsChristian/

and – drum roll please – at my new Author page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Cedar-Wolfsinger-1538605939498546/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

Week 5 of Bullet Journal as my Portable Calendar

This is the fifth week that I have used my Bullet Journal for my portable calendar. I love it.

What worked?

Everything. 

What didn’t work/was annoying?

Nothing.

What did I change?

Nothing.

What will I change?

I have been poking at new weekly spreads. I won’t change that THIS WEEK. However, I have marked out some time on Thanksgiving Day to play with the new spreads and see if I will change that up NEXT WEEK.

General accountability:

This is the fourth week of NaNoWriMo. I have written every day. I hit 50K a few days ago. I am still writing. However, the pressure is off, and that’s good a good thing. I still have my eye on that badge generated by the NaNo site that is the badge you get for writing every day. I want it. We’ll see if I can do that this year.

If you are in the USA, have a Happy Thanksgiving and travel safely. I hope you have a productive week! If you are participating in NaNoWriMo – write prolifically and HAVE FUN!!

Bright Blessings   – Cedar

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page: 

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

and my new page for my new business venture:

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleOwingsChristian/

and – drum roll please – at my new Author page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Cedar-Wolfsinger-1538605939498546/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

Week 4 of the Bullet Journal as portable calendar

This is the fourth week that I have used my Bullet Journal for my portable calendar. I love it.

What worked?

Everything. 

What didn’t work/was annoying?

Nothing.

What did I change?

Nothing.

What will I change?

I put a few pieces of paper behind my December monthly calendar. This way I have a place to put brain dumps for what I want to do next month.

General accountability:

Today starts the third week of NaNoWriMo. I have written every day. I am eight days ahead of the target word count. I’m very glad because today I woke up with a cold – stuffy head, crunchy lungs, coughing… and I expect I will go down for a nap after I post this blog. I plan to write today, and I will.  If I don’t write as much as I have been, my cushion will see me through.

I have created a Thread on the Writing Groups and Clubs Forum on the NaNoWriMo site. It is entitled “Pom-poms and Pep Talks”. It takes much less time than cutting and pasting into direct NaNoMails for 40 people.

I hope you have a productive week! If you are participating in NaNoWriMo – write prolifically and HAVE FUN!!

Bright Blessings   – Cedar

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page: 

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

and my new page for my new business venture:

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleOwingsChristian/

and – drum roll please – at my new Author page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Cedar-Wolfsinger-1538605939498546/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

Election 2016 -- The Person I CHOOSE to be in the World

This morning, when I heard the results of the Election, I was devastated. I have the bad taste to be poor and I believe that the party that is coming into power will do all it can to ensure that poor and disabled folks die and help decrease the surplus population. (Apologies to Charles Dickens.) I was miserable and depressed and convinced I would be dead within the year. Yes, I had a true “Dark Night of the Soul”.  I finally went to sleep at around 4 AM. I woke up at 6 AM and went right back to sleep until 8:30 AM. The alarm was set for 9 AM, and as I snuggled up in bed being warm and not wanting to get up, I began to think of who I am and who I want to be in the world.

A few weeks ago, my sister and I were talking and she said: “There is no ‘give up’ in you, girl.” Obviously, in the middle of the night, I was made entirely of “give up”. This morning, I started thinking of my family. I never met my paternal grandmother, she died when my Father was 13 years old. However, when I was a teenager, I found a photo of her – and it was like looking in a mirror. I look exactly like my Grandmother Flossie. I suspect she was a strong woman since she held on to life for six years after her husband passed away. She was there for my Father, and it couldn’t have been easy for her. My maternal grandmother, Rosina, was born in Italy. When my Grandfather asked her to marry him, her family didn’t approve. She said, “Either you give me your permission or we’ll live in sin.” That was anathema to an Italian Catholic family, so they gave their grudging permission. Rosina raised ten children in NYC from the late 19-teens to the 1940s, on very little money, and without knowing English very well at all. My Father had no “give up” in him. He was in the US Navy, attached to the First Marine Division on Guadalcanal and Tulagi in World War II. Daddy made up funny stories about his time in the South Pacific, which I didn’t understand was NOT a funny time until I was in college. Finally, my Mother, Patsy, was a strong and opinionated woman. She didn’t know the meaning of the phrase “give up”. These are my people. These are the people from whom I came, the people from whom I learned about life. Their granddaughter and daughter would not be wallowing in despair. I also came from a very musical family. When I was a child, my parents and aunts and uncles listened to Woody Guthrie, the Weavers, Joan Baez – protest songs and activism. That is what I know.

I have no way to influence the results of yesterday’s election. I voted. The candidate for whom I voted did not win. That’s happened to me before and I have survived. Those other candidates were never as frightening and repulsive to me as this one is. I can choose the way I will be in the world. I can choose to be kind and polite and sing my heart out about not giving up and supporting the people who are at risk from the policies and beliefs of this candidate. Then I WILL DO IT. I will stand between the people at risk and those who would harm them. I will fight for them. I will link arms with others and surround their places of worship to protect them from the police and those who would take away their freedom of religion. I will listen when they are low. I will tell them I love them. I will sing when there is nothing else to do.

I am a Bard from a line of Bards. I eulogized my Father and my Older Brother when they died. I did it because I love them and they deserved to have someone who loved them honor them. I did that because it was given me to do.

I choose to be the ME I have mostly been in the world. I REFUSE to let them change me into someone who acts like them. I will express my anger when I am angry. I will do so in as calm a manner as possible. Since I am Italian and Irish/Scots/English and Welsh, I might not always be successful. When I am not, I will apologize and hope to learn better and do better. I refuse to act out of hate. I refuse to hate. And FEAR (f**k everything and run) stopped being an option at least a decade ago.

I have young people who look to me as a Mentor, and Elder, a Wisdom keeper. I will fight so they can see what fighting looks like. I will put myself on the line for people who are at risk. My ancestors would have done it. They are not here. I will do it, for them and for me. I will do it so my Great Niece and the other young people who look to me will see how a committed person of faith acts in difficult times. I will stand between the Nameless Dark and the people it wants to hurt and will say “No. These are not for you. BE YE GONE!!” and the Nameless will go – at least for that time.

(These are the songs I had playing in my head earlier today. I posted them on Facebook today. Listen or scroll past. Your choice. I hope they give you strength.)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XZ3WycQhGsI

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dPwRnS7ZEA0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kNM1w_POhE0

I hope you can choose your own way out of despair and fear. If I can help you with that, please feel free to contact me.

Blessings to you, your friends, your family, and our country.

Cedar

Bullet Journal Revisited -- Week 3

This is the third week that I have used my Bullet Journal for my portable calendar. It is working very well. I’m not particularly surprised since I loved it the first time I tried it.

What worked?

Everything.  

What didn’t work/was annoying?

Nothing.

What did I change?

I have been looking at spreads online, and even have joined a few Facebook groups of Bullet Journal users. So many of the spreads are beautifully drawn and carefully lettered and amazingly colorful. I am drawing-impaired, can’t afford to go out and buy washi tape right now, and was feeling down because my Bullet Journal just wasn’t PRETTY. It was useful and effective and certainly wasn’t UGLY – it just was NOT pretty. Then I discovered something that does NOT require drawing skill that I already own, that will make it pretty. STICKERS!!! I went a little nuts with stickers. It makes me happy and I am using my Bullet Journal all the time now, keeping it open on my desk, propped up so I can see it, and it is the last thing I grab when I am on my way out the door.

I also have been using a Habit Tracker and a NaNoWriMo word count tracker I printed from the Internet.

 What will I change?

I have a list on scraps of paper that should be in my Bullet Journal of spreads I want to consider for 2017.

General accountability:

I finished the first week of NaNoWriMo. I have written every day. I am ahead of the target word count, which is wonderful.

I am using Scrivener – AND LOVING IT.  I am using the split screen function daily. I can have research up on one side and the story on the other. It is a treat.  I have also discovered that if you click on the Chapter folder, it will give you the word count for all the scenes in the chapter. Since I call my Chapters by the Day of NaNo (Day 1, Day 2), when I am done for the day I only click on the Chapter that says that day and there is my word count. Like Magick!!

I have created a Thread on the Writing Groups and Clubs Forum on the NaNoWriMo site. It is entitled “Pom-poms and Pep Talks”. It takes much less time than cutting and pasting into direct NaNoMails for 40 people.

I hope you have a productive week! If you are participating in NaNoWriMo – write prolifically and HAVE FUN!!

Bright Blessings   – Cedar

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page: 

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

and my new page for my new business venture:

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleOwingsChristian/

and – drum roll please – at my new Author page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Cedar-Wolfsinger-1538605939498546/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

Week 8 of the Very Visual Organizer and Week 2 of using Bullet Journal as well

This week marks the last week that I will report on the Very Visual Organizer. Even with all my inconsistencies, I have reported on that system for EIGHT weeks.

I also used the Bullet Journal for my portable calendar.

Very Visual Organizer

What worked?

Everything. I love the flexibility of this system. It makes me very happy, I love the colors and being able to see how my time is allocated.

What didn’t work/was annoying?

Nothing.

What did I change?

Nothing. I kept the third sheet, making the base three pages tall. It is very effective.

What will I change?

This is the last week of the eight weeks that I promised to report on this system. I will continue to use if because it is very effective for me. I think it is the last new system I am going to explore with you since I have found one that works for me. If you have any questions about any other systems, by all means, ask me.

Bullet Journal

What worked?

Everything. It has been interesting to have both the large calendar on the wall and the Bullet Journal notebook.

What didn’t work/was annoying?

The symbol for a telephone call was envisioned as a telephone handset. I changed the symbol to a large C instead of the telephone handset because it did not ever look like a handset and it annoyed me.

What did I change?

I changed the key. Although I had a signifier for a call as opposed to an appointment, I put the signifier for an appointment when I have a call. At some point, it might be important to have the different signifier, it is clearly not vital now.

I implemented the Outstanding Items page. It worked well and now there is nothing on it that has not been checked off. I will need to be putting more items on it.

What will I change?

As I mentioned last week, I  discovered a Facebook group for using the Bullet Journal during NaNoWriMo and two Bullet Journal forums on the NaNoWriMo site itself. I have joined them all. I enjoy the lovely spreads.

I start National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo) tomorrow. I printed out two separate word count trackers that I found online. I also made a habit tracker for myself. It isn’t pretty. I did figure out a way to make my Bullet Journal prettier than it has been. I cannot draw. I may get back into lettering (I used to do some calligraphy) in December. However, I discovered items I already own that I can use RIGHT NOW. Stickers!! I love stickers, and I have bunches of them. I don’t write as many letters as I once did, so I haven’t used the stickers much at all. Now I can!  That makes me very happy since I have no funds to purchase washi tape or other pretty things to fancy up my journal. I have stickers and I know how to use them. For example, on my weekly spread, I have a pumpkin and a fall leaf in today’s header. Tomorrow, for NaNoWriMo, I have a cat sticker, because cats are featured in my NaNoWriMo novel. I will put a different cat sticker on each day of November.

  

General accountability:

I have written every day this month. I’m delighted. Last week was a bit rough in the sleep department, my insomnia was in flare. However, I got up most days by 10 AM, except for two days on which I made a conscious decision to sleep in.

I am using Scrivener – they have a special Free Trial for NaNoWriMo. I continue to enjoy it. Yesterday I discovered a wonderful function – split screen. I could have a document with questions about world building open on one side and a new document on the other in which I answered the questions. No flipping back and forth from one document to another. It was a joy!

1. NaNoWriMo starts tomorrow. I will still be posting here on Mondays. I will also be writing at least 1667 words each day – the amount you must write to get to 50K by the end of the month, which is the goal of the challenge.  I’m Cedarwolfsinger on the NaNoWriMo site if you’d like to be my Writing Buddy, just add me.

I hope you have a productive week! If you are participating in NaNoWriMo – write prolifically and HAVE FUN!!

Bright Blessings and Happy November!   – Cedar

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page: 

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

and my new page for my new business venture:

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleOwingsChristian/

and – drum roll please – at my new Author page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Cedar-Wolfsinger-1538605939498546/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

Week 7 of the Very Visual Organizer and Week 1 of using Bullet Journal as well

This week, I continued to use the Very Visual Organizer because it works so well and makes me very happy.

I also used the Bullet Journal for my portable calendar.

Very Visual Organizer

What worked?

Everything. I love the flexibility of this system.

What didn’t work/was annoying?

Nothing.

What did I change?

Nothing. I kept the third sheet, making the base three pages tall. It is very effective.

What will I change?

Nothing.

Bullet Journal

What worked?

Everything. It has been interesting to have both the large calendar on the wall and the Bullet Journal notebook.

What didn’t work/was annoying?

The symbol for a telephone call was envisioned as a telephone handset. I changed the symbol to a large C instead of the telephone handset because it did not ever look like a handset and it annoyed me.

  

What did I change?

Only the key, which is more complex than the key I used before. I felt it was effective and that I will be needing the expanded key because there is much more happening in my life.

  

What will I change?

I did not decide on the spread I wanted to use for the Outstanding Items page last week. When Thursday came and I had not implemented it, I decided I would wait until this week to use it. I have now created it and it is in my Bullet Journal, behind my Weekly Spread. It only has a few items on it just now. When I think of more, I will add them. I like the concept; I will see how it works and let you know next week.

I had envisioned using a rainbow of different colors. I did not do that. I used red to fill in the appointments and tasks I completed, and I used green to note the items I migrated.  There may be more colors in my future.

I have also discovered that there is a Facebook group for using the Bullet Journal during NaNoWriMo and there are two Bullet Journal forums on the NaNoWriMo site itself. I will probably poke at them. I love looking at the lovely spreads. I don’t know if I am enough of an artist to implement them, however. Trying something new during NaNoWriMo might also make me crazy.

General accountability:

I have written every day this month. I’m delighted. I was still fighting being sick and still got up between 9 and 10 AM during the week.

I am using Scrivener – they have a special Free Trial for NaNoWriMo. I like being able to put everything in one project. There is a learning curve and I am poking at it for planning, setting, plotting, and character development. I feel good about it.

This week I am also starting to do Writing Sprints to get myself ready for NaNoWriMo, which starts next Tuesday.

I hope you have a productive week!

Bright Blessings – Cedar

You can find me on Facebook on my personal page: 

https://www.facebook.com/cedarwolfsinger?fref=ts

And my company page:

https://www.facebook.com/CedarsProofreadingAndEditing/

and my new page for my new business venture:

https://www.facebook.com/MichelleOwingsChristian/

and – drum roll please – at my new Author page on Facebook:

https://www.facebook.com/Cedar-Wolfsinger-1538605939498546/

I am also on Twitter:

@michelle owings-chri

LinkedIn profile:

https://www.linkedin.com/in/michelle-owings-christian-bbb7278

branded.me:

https://branded.me/michelleowings-christian

 (Sorry that the links are not all showing up. I can't figure it out.)