2 min read

How I organize my huge, bright, shining, big life.

Once a year, there's a magic, beautiful moment when all of our calendars are clear and clean.

This is our household calendar--->

I get these calendars every year from Ling Chang. A breath after this photo was taken, the calendar was invaded with black ink. Soon it will have colored ink for the various projects, backpacking, work trips, dance practices, parties, gardening, vacations, BEES!, and... whatever else the year brings.

I like the big calendar because it helps me relate the months to each other. For example, if we start running in January, we might be ready to do the Big D half marathon in April (or maybe just the 5k!).

Because I do so much, I have calendars for almost everything. I have a calendar for marketing efforts, a writing calendar, and every other kind of calendar you can imagine. This is my workout calendar.

As you can imagine, writing is not the most healthy profession in the world. In fact, almost all of my hero writers died of strokes. Because I spend ten to sixteen hours a day at my desk, it's important that I keep plan and keep track of my exercise. This is a copy of a calendar system I found, and totally absolutely love, this year. It's made by George at the Organized Life. (The calendars are inexpensive and truly marvy.)

This is the calendar I'm using for absolutely everything this year. He made a Spring Calendar for me to use to map out what I need to get done by April. I've tried every calendar system you can imagine. For some reason, George's simple system makes amazing sense to me.

Dan Blank, my writing business coach, converted one of the calendars to a Google document which we pass back and forth to each other.  It's a lovely tool to keep up with whatever mad cap ideas are bubbling around my head - or his more concrete brain.

But, right at this moment, both calendars are clear and clean. I wanted to share with you this wondrous occasion. It only happens once a year.

What systems do you use? What works for you?

(None of the links are affiliate links. They are just there because the providers are cool, the products in expensive and incredibly useful.)

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