On Project Planning
I missed a blog post last week. My goal is to post a blog weekly! I can usually get a post done before I have to start drafting my newsletter for publishing on Friday but when I’m working on something bigger I have a hard time staying on track.
This week that bigger project is writing a blog post on a book I just finished reading: Hunter S. Thompson’s Hell’s Angels. It was a wild ride and I enjoyed it immensely. I have a lot of thoughts and ground to cover so I want to schedule my time writing this post properly. I know I wont be able to finish it in just a few days. My goal is to start working on the blog post this week and publish by next week, which brings me to this week’s hurdle - how to organize writing projects. I’m not sure how other people organize their projects, which apps to use, how to increase productivity etc etc. but I made my project organizer the old fashioned way - with a notebook and a spreadsheet.
The Problem:
While juggling so all the writing assignments I’ve laid out for myself, between blogging, my newsletter and fictional or personal writing, I find it difficult to a) keep track of projects and b) finish projects. Example - I missed a blog post last week. Why? Because I was reading Hell’s Angels and wanted to blog about it. I could’ve had a post on deck and ready to publish while reading the book. While I’m completing something this week, I could also be publishing a piece I worked on last week or if I don’t have any new content, write up a quick updates post like this or write about anything else comes to mind. With the bigger, more in-depth projects I get into, I lose momentum after a week or two and then I give up on it when it’s not finished. Instead, I need to realize that certain things may take a few days, a few weeks or even a month. I have to have realistic expectations and plan my project timelines and deadlines accordingly.
The Solution:
Enter my writing journal - it’s a Moleskin project planner I use to keep track of what I’m working on, on a daily, weekly and monthly basis. I can look back at the progress I’ve made over a time period or see which areas have fallen by the wayside. The planner has convenient sections for making notes, to-do lists, scheduling projects, etc. Keeping track of writing projects in a dedicated planner, set aside from other areas of my life - work and personal stuff - has been a big help in staying productive.
Next I needed a dedicated and flexible calendar. The project planner’s calendar wasn’t working for me for a big picture view of ongoing projects. I created a spreadsheet with columns for all my projects and I can chart out time blocks for upcoming projects and shift them around as timelines and deadlines change. For example, Monday to Wednesday of this week I scheduled time to a) write this week’s blog post and b) consume content for this week’s newsletter. Thursday and Friday will be dedicated for drafting and finalizing the newsletter. Then I’ll have from Friday to next Wednesday to work on my Hell’s Angels blog post.
Over the course of this week, based on my reading and writing habits, I’ve shifted goals and timelines around a few times already and the spreadsheet seems to be helping me plan projects. I’ll continue to experiment and revisit this post at a later time.
