Writer's Life: Five Things a Day

Do you ever get feeling you're not getting anywhere? I'm one of those people who always has to have a goal. It's not that I'm competitive, I sometimes wish I was more competitive than I am, but I need to have a project, a goal, something I strive towards.

I always say my life is chaotic and chuckle a little, but it really is chaotic. I have a husband who's gone Wednesday to Friday one week, Monday to Wednesday the next, and Friday to Monday the one following that. I have a job where I never know from day to day if I'll be working or not, some days I work 10-12 hours, others I don't work at all. On top of this, I have four kids, one dog and three cats. It's how I live, it's not ideal for me since I'm one of those people who would pack her calendar to bring to a deserted island, but it's the reality.

Sometimes it makes writing hard, it's hard to find continuity, it's hard to keep focus and I often feel as I don't know where I'm at because I somehow fail to see what I'm doing as a whole. The only thing keeping it together is my indefinite lists, stick-its, journal pages etc.


So this month I'm trying out a new thing - Five Things a Day - to help me keep track of what I'm doing, and so far I really like it.

I was watching a video on youtube by Michelle Chouinard where she showed her writer's bullet journal, and she was doing this five things a day thing. You can do that about anything you want, doesn't have to be writing, but it's to keep track and make sure you do five things every day to move you forward towards your goal.

I stole it from Michelle who stole it from Lawerence Block....so feel free to steal it.

I did one in October as a trial and decided to keep doing it. So here's my Five Things November tracker. It's a bit hard to see, but I have writing (of course) plotting, editing, reading, blogging, social media posts because I hate those so they need to go there, mailing to my mailing list, podcasts, info videos etc. You can add whatever you feel like, I'd say, and next month I might have other things in there. I actually have meditation in mine, not really writing related but I put it in there anyway.

And sometimes I don't do five things, but it's something to strive for.