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Last time we discussed a writing pipeline, representing the phases or stages a project moves through, from the initial idea to completion\u2014including when it's been published and you save it in a portfolio.\n\n\n\nNow let\u2019s talk editorial calendars.\n\n\n\nLife Without an Editorial Calendar\n\n\n\nFor years I got by writing on the fly. I'd have a few minutes free, think up an idea, whip out a draft, and with just a little more time that night or the next morning, I could edit the piece into a solid article to send out to a magazine or publish on my website.\n\n\n\nMy approach worked in the early days, when my publishing aspirations and expectations were as small as my kids. As my kids grew, however, the possibilities seemed grander and I realized this random, last-minute approach was not the way to live a creative, sustainable, productive writing life over the long haul.\n\n\n\nIf I wanted to produce a body of work, I'd need to be a bit more intentional and organized. A tool to support all that and remind me what to do next was an editorial calendar.\n\n\n\nLife With an Editorial Calendar\n\n\n\nWhether I\u2019m planning the timing of short pieces like blog posts or long-form projects broken into smaller tasks, I\u2019ve come to rely on an editorial calendar of some kind, even if it\u2019s rudimentary. Over the years, I've tried everything from printed calendars to online apps. No matter what I use, it boils down to deciding when I want to publish or submit something. Then I simply write that down somewhere\u2014preferably somewhere I\u2019ll actually look.\n\n\n\nIntegrating the project due dates on a calendar I\u2019m already using for other appointments helped me value the work as highly as other obligations. It showed up as a priority in my life and helped me view myself as a working writer.\n\n\n\nI hope life with an editorial calendar improves your own work habits and productivity so that you\u2019ll prioritize your writing. And when you\u2019re picking out the editorial calendar to use, start with what\u2019s most normal and natural for you to avoid overcomplicating things or introducing a big learning curve.\n\n\n\nPaper Calendars\n\n\n\nMy first editorial calendars were simply monthly calendars I printed off. I\u2019d think about the frequency I wanted to write and publish for my own website along with content I created for other organizations and magazines, then I\u2019d pencil in projects with the deadlines. It helped me learn my capacity and pace by experimenting with work load and frequency. Without a calendar, I\u2019d just be winging it; with a calendar, I could begin to see the weeks I\u2019d scheduled too much.\n\n\n\nBullet Journals\n\n\n\nIf bullet journals existed at the time I was printing off calendar pages, I would have dedicated a page to an editorial calendar. As with a printed calendar, I\u2019d mark articles scheduled on certain days for my blog posts or podcasts as well as articles promised to magazines and online organizations. I currently use a bullet journal to plan out ideas, but I\u2019m loving technology options these days for my editorial calendar.\n\n\n\nGoogle Calendar\n\n\n\nI first transitioned from printed calendars to a simple Google Calendar. You can name each calendar, so I gave mine the unforgettable name: Editorial Calendar. I already used a Google calendar to manage the rest of my life, so this was simply adding another layer and I liked that integration.\n\n\n\nSample entries of the kind of thing you could include on an Editorial Calendar\n\n\n\nIn Google Calendars, you can click calendars on and off to look at one at a time or have all of them layer on top of each other so you can see schedule conflicts. This was perfect, because it layered my entire life and I could see busy weeks when writing wouldn\u2019t be possible. I could move around project goals to accommodate other obligations in life.\n\n\n\nAnother nice feature: scheduling alerts to remind me to to write, edit, and send off my projects for a hours or days ahead of time. When a notification popped up on my phone or desktop,