Go Forth and Plan

I've written about this before, but I have way too many projects going on at once. I have multiple manuscripts in various stages (good problem to have), and sometimes, I just don't know what I want to work on. I know what I need to work on, and the procrastinator in me tends to get easily distracted. Put this on top of a full-time job and full-time family, and I am scattered.

So I took inspiration from my work. I have a couple to-do lists in different formats there, guiding me to see what's next. While I've had writing to-do lists, I haven't broken it down weekly before. I chose my top three projects (my critique group manuscript, my latest book, and a new piece) to focus on. While my brain wants to drift toward other things, I can bounce between these three pretty easily.

I started by plugging in my writers' group meetings. Those are important to me, so they are a priority. Now, I have things to submit to those groups (the previously mentioned manuscripts), so I put those on my list. I'm working on those through the week, then brushing them up the night before. I also scheduled time for reviewing my critique group's submissions. I'm taking an online class, so that has a day. That leaves time for the new project and a day off!

I'm usually pretty laid back. This Type A kind of stuff aggravates me. But it's come to a point where I have to organize and plan my time. This kind of discipline can only benefit writing quality and production, and I'm dedicating myself to it.

What kind of system do you use?