The Creative Minds Monthly Planner is a Southern Sky Publishing FREE download.
This week started with anticipation - I signed up to attend a week-long conference about writing crime novels. I've included crime in my first novel series and short stories, but I'm not a writer of Mystery, Suspense, and Thriller genres. Since I'm brainstorming a Cozy Mystery series with supernatural suspense, I'm preparing as best I can, short of the REAL learning, which is the trial and error of writing.
So, I gathered my business notebook and opened it to jot down the daily time commitment of the conference. Sabotage lurks when I'm trying to carve out time dedicated to writing and it was no surprise when I was faced with a rabbit trail: the space for this week was used up, and it was the last page left of the planning system. I'd been putting off printing more because I needed a new printer, which I fortunately purchased a couple of weeks ago.
With a frustrated sigh, I went online to find the free downloadable planner for authors that I'd been using the past 3 years, and found that the resource links no longer work.
Wow. So much for focusing on the conference and applying it to my next book series! I eyed the clock for timing the next speaker and quickly logged in to my presentation software to design something simple that I'd enjoy using.
Lots of lines and boxes on forms make me want to run away, so I got rid of them in my version. I call it the Creative Minds Monthly Planner, and it's simple and fun! It has an airy, dreamy look when the PDF is printed out - there's more space at the top and bottom that appears in the photo on the poster above (see print sample below).
Here's how I fill mine in.
Special note: When printing the download, you may need to select the Acrobat view to see the entire page. Also, be sure to remember to change your printer setting to Landscape mode to get the wide area needed for the planner.
This sample would be much busier to look at if April had been a typical month's schedule, but I had time off to enjoy my adorable grandson (yes, I'll post a pic!) and take a week off to stay on the island with my hubby and son. I'll likely use several colors of fine point markers or ink to draw lines and section off the artist and author business aspects of my schedule. Maybe I'll doodle something fun under those palms and surfboards :-)
As so often happens in life, what seemed like an inconvenient challenge was instead a blessing! I have a monthly planner system that's much better than the one I was using, and I can share it with you. If you're inspired by my Creative Minds Monthly Planner, I hope you'll give it a try and pass along the link to your friends! I use it as an artist and author, but it would be useful for craft and sewing schedules, lesson plans, social media planning, and other creative pursuits. If you're a writer or author, you may want to take a peek at my other FREE download tool, a Character Profile Template. They are on the same "Free Writing Tools and Art Lessons" page on the Southern Sky Publishing website. A unique feature of the Character Profile is that it has a place to explore the Christian faith aspects of a character, which shapes his or her actions in a story.
Blog content copyright Pamela Poole, Artist and Author, 2021
Photos and posters may only be used by permission from the author.
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