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thesecretsthewriterkeeps · 6 years

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Before I started a bullet journal, I was skeptical that bullet journals would be any use. I thought, how is it any different to any other journal? Surely it’s just an overhyped trend that doesn’t actually work? What’s the point?

So, I tried it for myself!

What is a bullet journal?

At its simplest, a bullet journal is just a notebook, in which one uses a system of bullet points and modules to plan one’s life. Invented by Ryder Carroll, the core idea behind the bullet journal is flexibility and personalisation. You set up a few basic pages – such as an index, to keep track of what is recorded on which page, and a future log, to keep track of what’s happening in the future. The rest of the journal consists of modules called monthly and daily logs, which you can set up either in advance or as you need them. In these spaces, you use the system of bullets below to record your monthly, weekly, and daily tasks in short, quick notes. You “migrate” events from your future log and last month’s log to the current monthly log, then from your monthly log to the relevant daily logs.

It may be a simple system, but since you can use any notebook as a bullet journal and set it up yourself, you can really do whatever you like with it. You can also change the system of bullets and signifiers, and which modules you use, to suit your own journaling needs. For example, some people have symbols for all sorts of different types of activities. Many bullet journalists include weekly logs, habit and expenses trackers, project planning pages, and to-read or to-watch lists in their bullet journals. While it was intended to be a quick, no-nonsense journal, the online bullet journal community has transformed it into a work of art, full of colour and creativity.

You can read more about it on the official bullet journal website.

Why I Started A Bullet Journal

I have spent all of my time at university being disorganised. Even before that, I didn’t exactly have everything planned out. During GCSE and A Level, I failed again and again and again to stick to my revision schedules, but at least I was able to stick to my enforced school timetable.

Of course, that strict timetable vanished at university, and apart from a few scheduled lectures and seminars each week, I had to learn to manage my own time to study. It’s something I really struggled with. I tried study schedules, I tried various planners, I tried apps, and yet whatever I tried, something didn’t quite seem to work. Maybe I’d forget to check my planner and it would end up blank for several weeks, or whichever app I was using at the time didn’t have quite the functionality I needed, or something would come up that disrupted my study schedule and I would completely forget about it after just one day.

And yet when I first came across bullet journals, I passed them off as just another hipster fad, an easy fix sold by glowing, smiling faces that wouldn’t actually work. I thought, how is this any different to any other journal or planner? Surely I won’t be able to stick to other planners, I won’t be able to stick to this one either.

But when a friend gushed about her bullet journal and how much she recommended trying one (for at least two months, she said – otherwise you can’t tell if it’s helping or not) I reconsidered.

My trackers page for July

I started off by using the bullet point system in the student planner I already owned, and then trying out some habit trackers which I posted up on the whiteboard in front of my desk. While I again struggled to keep up with using the habit trackers, I found the bullet system very useful, and soon abandoned my specially-designed student planner for a cheap but cute notebook I designated as my new bullet journal.

That was in March of this year, and in the four months since then, I have never skipped more than a week in my journal. It’s the first time I’ve managed to stick to something like this since I was at school – which is four years ago now.

What I Like About Bullet Journaling

Migration

I know, it sounds like a faff, having to transfer all your events and to-dos from future log to monthly log to weekly log to daily log. And I won’t deny that you have to take a period of maybe ten or twenty minutes out of your day to do it. You may think, if I’m looking for an easy, seamless way to get organised, why would I pick one that requires putting in time like this? I know that’s what I thought.

But I have actually found it helpful. Yes, it takes time up, but it’s worth it. The repetition of writing my to-dos in my monthly to-do list, then in my weekly one, then in my daily one helps me remember the task. I can also do the same with monthly goals: I have to think about what, exactly, I want to achieve this month so I can write it in my monthly log, and writing it in my monthly log not only helps me keep it in mind, but also means I can flip back to it and check it whenever I like.

It also helps with allocating and prioritising tasks. Since I have written all the important tasks I need to achieve this month in my monthly log, I can easily look through them and sort out which I should do in which week. Then I can do the same with my weekly logs, taking some time at the beginning of each week to allocate weekly tasks to specific days. If I don’t manage to do a task on the allocated day, then I can migrate it to a different day, and do it then instead.

I think the important thing here is that the time spent on migrating tasks to different journal pages is not time wasted, it is time invested in your organisation. After all, you can’t become good at, say, drawing without investing lots of time to practice. Why should it be any different with organisation?

Having everything in one place

Since the journal is set up by me in my own notebook, there are no rules as to what I can or can’t put in there. It means I have everything I need – from events and reminders, to notes and to-do lists, to anything else I choose to put in there – on hand and accessible, whenever I need it, all in one place. And if you can’t remember where in your journal you wrote it, you can just check your index! (Assuming you remember to update it when adding new pages, of course!)

This is great because it means I no longer have to search through all the pieces of paper floating around on my desk, the memos on my phone, and Word documents with vague titles to find the note or list I need. And since I carry my journal around with me, anything I write down on the go is also exactly where I need it to be. No more losing shopping lists or forgetting dates and story ideas for me!

My monthly log for April

It also just feels so much more elegant and streamlined than other systems I’ve tried. Previously, I’ve had events and to-dos listed in planners or apps, while everything else is scattered around on post-it notes, on my whiteboard, and in random notebooks, which means I still feel as disorganised as I did before I started using the planner or app. Or neither the planner nor the app has spaces for all the things I want to record, and I just end up frustrated with it. Not to mention if my phone is malfunctioning or low on power and I can’t access my organisation app.

The bullet journal, meanwhile, cannot be slow or out of battery, and it offers space for anything and everything I want to write in it, in whatever way I want to write it. In short, I feel so much more on top of things with my journal on hand than I do otherwise.

The flexibility

What allows you to put absolutely everything in your bullet journal is its flexibility. Since it’s created by you, for you, you can put in exactly what you want, when you want it. Recipe? Write it in the journal! List of things to take with me on my trip? Turn to the next blank page! Notes on my novel or a schedule for my blog? Take up ten or twenty pages if you want; you can just resume the normal journal afterwards!

A page for tasks relating to writing my novel

This, I think, is the most important factor for me. I’m not restricted by the boxes in pre-printed planners; I have the freedom to use my bullet journal as I see fit, and change the way I use it from month-to-month, week-to-week, or even day-to-day. If one day I decide to write a Dear Diary type entry that rambles on about feelings or whatever for an entire three pages, I can. And if all I want to write the next day is a single half-a-line or two to-do bullet points, I can do that too. One month, I can make it all arty and fancy, and the next I can just scribble a few bits and pieces with no embellishment. I can try out as many different set ups and systems and trackers as I want.

That’s the real beauty of the bullet journal for me: it is exactly what I want it to be. And I can keep changing how I use it until I eventually find the optimal way for me. Or I can just keep changing it and changing it and changing it, so I never get bored of the same planner set up every day, and keep sticking to it.

The creativity

At first, seeing all the beautiful bullet journal spreads on Instagram, with their intricately designed set ups and gorgeous doodles, actually scared me away from starting my own bullet journal. How could I possibly have the time to create anything even remotely as pretty as that? And surely all those doodles mean less space to, you know, actually write in the journal?

But when my friend recommended trying a bullet journal to me, and I did some more research, I discovered that all the perfect prettiness I had seen on Instagram was not actually what bullet journaling was about at its core. Bullet journaling is the simple system I described earlier, and nothing more. Your own journal is what you make it. There is absolutely no pressure to make your bullet journal Instagram-worthy.

About a month and a half after I started my bullet journal, though, I discovered something else: I actually enjoyed making my journal look pretty. I found doing it was relaxing, and looking at it once I’d done was so satisfying! It made me want to open and use my journal more, because look at the pretty! I did that! I was also surprised at how easy it could be, if you wanted it to be. Just add some colourful highlighter to the page and voila! Pretty!

There are also lots of tutorials online showing you how to do really quick, easy doodles and titles that still look really effective! Here’s an Instagram post showing some cool, simple titles you can use; here’s a YouTube tutorial on how to draw banners; and here’s another showing some of the cute doodles you can put in your bullet journal.

I have since bought some marker pens and over the last couple of months have started adding doodles and fancy titles to my bullet journal. While I may not have initially intended to spend as much time as I do making my journal look pretty, I love the time I spend on it, and feel proud of the pages I produce. And, as I said earlier, it makes me more likely to check my journal, because it looks nice!

But the creativity isn’t just in the doodles and the fancy titles. It’s also in how you set out your pages. This was one of the first things I enjoyed about bullet journaling. What if I tried putting my day-of-the-week titles on alternating sides of the page? Should I position my daily logs horizontally or vertically, and where can I put a notes section on this page? If I do that thing I saw on Instagram where you cut a page in half and have your weekly spread over two and a half pages, what do I put on the half-page flap in the middle?

I have found it really fun to experiment with these different set ups, to see what I like and what I don’t, to see what works for me and what doesn’t. It keeps me engaged with it, and I think that, along with the pretty doodles, is what keeps me coming back to my bullet journal again and again and again!

The community

I have already mentioned the bullet journal community several times, but it’s definitely worth discussing in more detail! A huge number of people share their bullet journals on sites such as Instagram and YouTube, and it’s a great source of inspiration and encouragement. It’s great to see all the ideas that are out there, that I could use for my own bullet journal, if I want. If it weren’t for the online bullet journal community, I wouldn’t have tried out as many different set ups and decorations as I have. And that variation and creativity in my journal pages is one of the things that keeps me using it, so seeing all these new ideas is actually helping me stick to my bullet journal!

Finally, knowing that so many others are also on board with the same hobby and organisation system as I am really motivates me to keep filling my journal in! It’s so nice to see everyone encouraging each other to stay organised and keep going.

So if you haven’t tried it yet, and think you could use do with being a bit more organised, I definitely recommend trying out a bullet journal! All you need is any notebook (preferably one small enough to carry around, but big enough to record everything you need – A5 is usually recommended) and a pen. And, as my friend told me, it’s recommended to try it for at least two months before you decide whether to carry on with it or not.

What do you think about bullet journals? Have you tried one, and if not, would you? Let me know in the comments!

Why I Started A Bullet Journal

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thesecretsthewriterkeeps · 6 years

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Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine: Book Review

Eleanor Oliphant Is Completely Fine is Gail Honeyman’s debut novel, published in 2017. The story follows the eponymous Eleanor, a thirty-year old woman who lives alone and works in an office. She eats the same meals every day, has a phone call with her judgemental mother at the same time every Wednesday, and spends her weekends drinking vodka to avoid thoughts of her past. People often find her…

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#adult contemporary books #book recommendations #book recs #book review #books #books about loneliness #books about mental health #books about trauma #contemporary books #contemporary fiction #eleanor oliphant is completely fine #fiction #gail honeyman

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thesecretsthewriterkeeps · 6 years

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The Star-Touched Queen: Book Review

The Star-Touched Queenby Roshani Chokshi is a young adult fantasy novel inspired by Indian mythology. The first in a duology, this book follows Maya, a princess who is spurned for the damning horoscope she was given at birth, as she is forced into an arranged marriage intended to end the war. But in the middle of the wedding, fighting breaks out, and one of Maya’s suitors, Amar, whisks her away…

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#book recommendations #book recs #book review #diverse books #diverse characters #fantasy book #fantasy book review #fantasy books #own voices #Roshani Chokshi #the star-touched queen #ya books #ya fantasy

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thesecretsthewriterkeeps · 6 years

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How to Plot a Complex Novel in One Day

Now first, I have to say, that the plot you’re able to come up with in one day is not going to be without its flaws, but coming up with it all at once, the entire story unfolds right in front of you and makes you want to keep going with it. So, where to begin?

What is your premise and basic plot? Pick your plot. I recommend just pulling one from this list. No plots are “original” so making yours interesting and complicated will easily distract from that fact, that and interesting characters. Characters will be something for you to work on another day, because this is plotting day. You’ll want the main plot to be fairly straight forward, because a confusing main plot will doom you if you want subplots.

Decide who the characters will be. They don’t have to have names at this point. You don’t even need to know who they are other than why they have to be in the story. The more characters there are the more complicated the plot will be. If you intend to have more than one subplot, then you’ll want more characters. Multiple interconnected subplots will give the illusion that the story is very complicated and will give the reader a lot of different things to look at at all times. It also gives you the chance to develop many side characters. The plot I worked out yesterday had 13 characters, all were necessary. Decide their “roles” don’t bother with much else. This seems shallow, but this is plot. Plot is shallow.

Now, decide what drives each character. Why specifically are they in this story? You can make this up. You don’t even know these characters yet. Just so long as everyone has their own motivations, you’re in the clear.

What aren’t these characters giving away right off the bat? Give them a secret! It doesn’t have to be something that they are actively lying about or trying to hide, just find something that perhaps ties them into the plot or subplot. This is a moment to dig into subplot. This does not need to be at all connected to their drive to be present in the story. Decide who is in love with who, what did this person do in the 70’s that’s coming back to bite them today, and what continues to haunt what-his-face to this very day. This is where you start to see the characters take shape. Don’t worry much about who they are or what they look like, just focus on what they’re doing to the story.

What is going to change these characters? Now this will take some thinking. Everyone wants at least a few of the characters to come out changed by the end of the story, so think, how will they be different as a result of the plot/subplot? It might not be plot that changes them, but if you have a lot of characters, a few changes that are worked into the bones of the plot might help you.

Now list out the major events of the novel with subplot in chronological order. This will be your timeline. Especially list the historical things that you want to exist in backstory. List everything you can think of. Think about where the story is going. At this point, you likely haven’t focused too much on the main plot, yeah, it’s there, but now really focus on the rising actions, how this main plot builds its conflict, then the climactic moment. Make sure you get all of that in there. This might take a few hours.

Decide where to start writing. This part will take a LOT of thinking. It’s hard! But now that you’ve got the timeline, pick an interesting point to begin at. Something with action. Something relevant. Preferably not at the beginning of your timeline - you want to have huge reveals later on where these important things that happened prior are exposed. This is the point where you think about what information should come out when. This will be a revision of your last list, except instead of being chronological, it exists to build tension.

Once you’ve gotten the second list done, you’ve got a plot. Does it need work? Probably. But with that said, at this point you probably have no idea who half your characters are. Save that for tomorrow, that too will be a lot of work.

Disclaimer for this post.

#plotting #writing

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thesecretsthewriterkeeps · 6 years

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Tower Of Dawn Book Review

Tower of Dawn is the sixth book in Sarah J Maas’s young adult fantasy series Throne of Glass. Originally intended to be a companion novella to the series, this book follows former Captain of Adarlan’s Guard, now Hand to the King, Chaol Westfall, as he and the new Captain of the Guard, Nesryn Faliq, journey to the Southern Continent in the hopes of gaining the alliance of the Southern Continent…

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thesecretsthewriterkeeps · 6 years

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GUYS GUYS GUYS I BOUGHT BOOKS THAT HAVE DRAGONS IN THEM!!!!! Idk if you can tell, but I'm a bit of a fan of dragons 😜 so I can't wait to read these, and the rest of this series! (The bookshop actually had all nine books in the series in stock, which I was quite impressed by, but my book voucher only covered 1 book plus a small discount on a second, plus I didn't fancy carrying nine books around, and I don't even have enough shelf space for the books I already own, never mind new ones 😂) . #quotd what dragon-related books do you recommend? 🐲🐉 #bookrecs #bookrecommendations #fantasybookrecommendations #fantasybookrec . #bookhaul #dragons #booklover #booklovers #instabook #instabooks #igbooks #bibliophile #book #books #booksofinstagram #booksbooksbooks #bookstagramfeature #bookgram #bookaholic #allthebooks #readerlife

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5 Moral Dilemmas That Make Characters and Stories Even Better

Readers can’t resist turning pages when characters are facing tough choices. Use these 5 keys to weave moral dilemmas into your stories–and watch your fiction climb to new heights.

#1: Give Your Character Dueling Desires

Before our characters can face difficult moral decisions, we need to give them beliefs that matter: The assassin has his own moral code not to harm women or children, the missionary would rather die than renounce his faith, the father would sacrifice everything to pay the ransom to save his daughter.

A character without an attitude, without a spine, without convictions, is one who will be hard for readers to cheer for and easy for them to forget.

So, to create an intriguing character facing meaningful and difficult choices, give her two equally strong convictions that can be placed in opposition to each other.

For example: A woman wants (1) peace in her home and (2) openness between her and her husband. So, when she begins to suspect that he’s cheating on her, she’ll struggle with trying to decide whether or not to confront him about it. If she only wanted peace she could ignore the problem; if she only wanted openness she would bring it up regardless of the results. But her dueling desires won’t allow her such a simple solution.

That creates tension.

And tension drives a story forward.

So, find two things that your character is dedicated to and then make him choose between them. Look for ways to use his two desires to force him into doing something he doesn’t want to do.

For instance, a Mennonite pastor’s daughter is killed by a drunk driver. When the man is released on a technicality, does the minister forgive him (and what would that even look like?) or does he take justice into his own hands? In this case, his (1) pacifist beliefs are in conflict with his (2) desire for justice. What does he do?

Good question.

Good tension.

Good drama.

Another example: Your protagonist believes (1) that cultures should be allowed to define their own subjective moralities, but also (2) that women should be treated with the same dignity and respect as men. She can’t stand the thought of women being oppressed by the cultures of certain countries, but she also feels it’s wrong to impose her values on someone else. When she is transplanted to one of those countries, then, what does she do?

Construct situations in which your character’s equally strong convictions are in opposition to each other, and you will create occasions for thorny moral choices.

#2: Put Your Character’s Convictions to the Test

We don’t usually think of it this way, but in a very real sense, to bribe someone is to pay him to go against his beliefs; to extort someone is to threaten him unless he goes against them.

For example:

How much would you have to pay the vegan animal rights activist to eat a steak (bribery)? Or, how would you need to threaten her in order to coerce her into doing it (extortion)?

What would it cost to get the loving, dedicated couple to agree never to see each other again (bribery)? Or, how would you need to threaten them to get them to do so (extortion)?

What would you need to pay the pregnant teenage Catholic girl to convince her to have an abortion (bribery)? What threat could you use to get her to do it (extortion)?

Look for ways to bribe and extort your characters. Don’t be easy on them. As writers we sometimes care about our characters so much that we don’t want them to suffer. As a result we might shy away from putting them into difficult situations.

Guess what?

That’s the exact opposite of what needs to happen in order for our fiction to be compelling.

What’s the worst thing you can think of happening to your character, contextually, within this story? Now, challenge yourself—try to think of something else just as bad, and force your character to decide between the two.

Plumb the depths of your character’s convictions by asking, “How far will s/he go to … ?” and “What would it take for … ?”

(1) How far will Frank go to protect the one he loves?

(2) What would it take for him to stand by and watch the one he loves die when he has the power to save her?

(1) How far will Angie go to find freedom?

(2) What would it take for her to choose to be buried alive?

(1) How far will Detective Rodriguez go to pursue justice?

(2) What would it take for him to commit perjury and send an innocent person to death row?

Ask yourself: What does my character believe in? What priorities does she have? What prejudices does she need to overcome? Then, put her convictions to the ultimate test to make her truest desires and priorities come to the surface.

#3: Force Your Character into a Corner

Don’t give him an easy out. Don’t give him any wiggle room. Force him to make a choice, to act. He cannot abstain. Take him through the process of dilemma, choice, action and consequence:

(1) Something that matters must be at stake.

(2) There’s no easy solution, no easy way out.

(3) Your character must make a choice. He must act.

(4) That choice deepens the tension and propels the story forward.

(5) The character must live with the consequences of his decisions and actions.

If there’s an easy solution there’s no true moral dilemma. Don’t make one of the choices “the lesser of two evils”; after all, if one is lesser, it makes the decision easier.

For example, say you’ve taken the suggestion in the first key above and forced your character to choose between honoring equal obligations. He could be caught between loyalty to two parties, or perhaps be torn between his family obligations and his job responsibilities. Now, raise the stakes—his marriage is at risk and so is his job, but he can’t save them both. What does he do?

The more imminent you make the choice and the higher the stakes that decision carries, the sharper the dramatic tension and the greater your readers’ emotional engagement. To achieve this, ask “What if?” and the questions that naturally follow:

What if she knows that being with the man she loves will cause him to lose his career? How much of her lover’s happiness would she be willing to sacrifice to be with him?

What if an attorney finds herself defending someone she knows is guilty? What does she do? What if that person is her best friend?

What if your character has to choose between killing himself or being forced to watch a friend die?

Again, make your character reevaluate his beliefs, question his assumptions and justify his choices. Ask yourself: How is he going to get out of this? What will he have to give up (something precious) or take upon himself (something painful) in the process?

Explore those slippery slopes. Delve into those gray areas. Avoid questions that elicit a yes or no answer, such as: “Is killing the innocent ever justified?” Instead, frame the question in a way that forces you to take things deeper: “When is killing the innocent justified?” Rather than, “Does the end justify the means?” ask, “When does the end justify the means?”

#4: Let the Dilemmas Grow From the Genre

Examine your genre and allow it to influence the choices your character must face. For instance, crime stories naturally lend themselves to exploring issues of justice and injustice: At what point do revenge and justice converge? What does that require of this character? When is preemptive justice really injustice?

Love, romance and relationship stories often deal with themes of faithfulness and betrayal: When is it better to hide the truth than to share it? How far can you shade the truth before it becomes a lie? When do you tell someone a secret that would hurt him? For example, your protagonist, a young bride-to-be, has a one-night stand. She feels terrible because she loves her fiancé, but should she tell him what happened and shatter him—and perhaps lose him—or keep the truth hidden?

Fantasy, myth and science fiction are good venues for exploring issues of consciousness, humanity and morality: How self-aware does something need to be (an animal, a computer, an unborn baby) before it should be afforded the same rights as fully developed humans? At what point does destroying an AI computer become murder? Do we really have free will or are our choices determined by our genetic makeup and environmental cues?

#5: Look the Third Way

You want your readers to be thinking, I have no idea how this is going to play out. And then, when they see where things go, you want them to be satisfied.

There’s a story in the Bible about a time religious leaders caught a woman committing adultery and brought her to Jesus. In those days, in that culture, adultery was an offense that was punishable by death. The men asked Jesus what they should do with this woman. Now, if Jesus had told them to simply let her go free he would have been contravening the law; if, however, he told them to put her to death, he would have undermined his message of “forgiveness and mercy.”

It seemed like a pretty good trap, until he said, “Whoever is without sin among you, let him cast the first stone.”

Nicely done.

I call this finding the Third Way. It’s a solution that’s consistent with the character’s attitude, beliefs and priorities, while also being logical and surprising.

We want the solutions that our heroes come up with to be unexpected and inevitable.

Present yours with a seemingly impossible conundrum.

And then help him find the Third Way out.

I hope this helped! I’ve been really busy today, seeing how my mom had surgery and I’ve been trying to continue writing my novel today as well. I thought I’d squeeze in some more stuff for you guys!

If you have any questions or just want to talk, feel free to visit my ask box!

#writing #writing tension #writing conflict

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