Planner Passage

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I am a multiple-calendar person. I have hanging calendars in my office, primarily for reference (what day is it anyway?), one in the kitchen for family appointments that I "sync" with the one in my purse (I'm a paper-and-pencil planner person), one in which I keep track of writing projects and one on my desk for the day-by-day stuff -- appointments (yes, I often write them in more than one place), lists, goals....all of the important miscellany that doesn't fit on a traditional calendar and gives a "planner" its name.

For probably the last decade, I've used exactly the same type of notepad calendar as my day-by-day planner. I used it first for my desk at work, then continued purchasing them for my desk at home after I retired. I loved the layout and the possibilities.

But when 2018 rolled around, I still hadn't yet found one for this year. So, with limited desk real estate, I began to question whether it might be time for a change.

One morning in January, I met a friend for breakfast at Cracker Barrel. I got there first (a rare occurrence) and had time to browse in their store. Lo and behold, calendars were on sale -- half price, if memory serves. There were no notepad calendars to be found, but I did find a large (9 x 11) spiral bound calendar with a layout I liked and decided to give it a shot.

Three months and several approaches in, I think I've finally pressed it into service in a way that works for me and I've found it a home.

This particular planner is an eighteen-month calendar, but by the time I purchased it, the first six months worth of pages were days gone by. I toyed with tearing the pages out to lighten my load, but decided to wait.

Good choice.

Now, in addition to being my master list keeper, day-by-day to-do reminder, and answer to the question, "what day is it anyway?" my new planner has become my go-to source for things like names I like (character planning) "what's where" (a road map of my works-in-progress), blog ideas and, my most recent addition, a section I've labeled "DID IT!" where I keep track of all the monthly goals I've reached. My writing planner (a thin dollar bin find with a two page spread for each month, but little else) tucks inside it, which is handy when I decide to go elsewhere to write -- this set-up is much more portable than my beloved notepad calendar.

Not my calendar, but I love the black and white,
which matches my office.
(Photo by Emma Matthews on Unsplash)

Having retained all my new planner's pages (which are connected by a sturdy spiral), I've got room to add plenty of other miscellany I want to keep track of. Not only does this mean I'm probably not finished adding sections, it might also mean that I've found an answer to the inevitable question, "where did I put that piece of paper?"

Do I sound enthusiastic? I am -- now. We had some growing pains, my calendar and I, and although I'm not quite over my precious notepad calendar, I think this new set-up is more than a rebound relationship.

I think this is a planner with potential.