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[Ep 195]\n\n\n\nI\u2019m not by nature a planner. I am, in fact, more of a tumbleweed.\n\nYou know what I mean? If I went with my personality, I\u2019d be blown around with no particular direction\u2014wherever the wind sent me.\nOn Being a Writer - Chapter 10 Excerpt\nI wrote about this tendency of mine in On Being a Writer, the book I wrote with Charity Singleton Craig. In Chapter 10, entitled \u201cPlan,\u201d I explain why I decided to be a little more intentional about creating a plan for my writing life:\nI traveled out west the summer of 2013. As my family and I barreled down a New Mexico highway through a barren landscape, we saw a storm. Winds, like a giant, invisible broom, swept sand up and around. Swoosh! Currents pushed against the side of our vehicle, and debris shot across the road.\n\u201cLook!\u201d I pointed. \u201cA tumbleweed!\u201d\nIt hopped over the fence and bounced like a beachball twice to cross the highway, before soaring high over the fence on the other side, disappearing into the swirling dust. I had to shout over the roar of the wind for my husband to hear. \u201cI always wanted to see a tumbleweed, but I didn\u2019t realize I\u2019d see it under these circumstances!\u201d\nI\u2019d only seen tumbleweeds in movies and cartoons. This was my first glimpse of the real thing, and realizing that its movement depended on violent, threatening gusts, I decided to stop comparing myself to a tumbleweed. In my Midwestern mind, tumbleweeds had seemed sort of go-with-the-flow, lazily rolling across the desert in whatever direction a puff of wind might send them. That\u2019s also how I viewed my life as a writer. I didn\u2019t plan my direction much or set definitive goals; I just went where the wind blew.\nIn the early days, I could never quite see the big picture through the blustery dust of the tumbleweed approach. When I stopped being buffeted about, I was able to schedule my weeks and days to align with the vision I have for my writing life. I developed a long-range plan, hoping to look back decades from now and say, \u201cI\u2019m glad I invested in the creation of that work,\u201d instead of, \u201cWhat was I doing all those years?\u201d\nBut watching that storm hurl the hapless tumbleweed, I realized I didn\u2019t want to be blown completely off the path. I wanted enough control to dig in and stay for a while, especially if I liked where I\u2019d landed. So I\u2019ve abandoned the tumbleweed analogy...\nMy planning isn\u2019t perfect; unexpected events, both good and bad, can throw me off. Nevertheless, my writing life is taking root and growing; I\u2019m making significant, measurable progress each day. I still leave room for serendipity\u2014a phone call from an event planner looking for a conference speaker, or a publisher wanting to hire a writing coach to work with one of their writers, or a magazine editor requesting a 2,000-word article on a topic of my choice.\nI...submit my work to websites and magazines, collaborate with other writers, coach high school students and adults in their craft, and publish articles at my own website...Clarity. Vision. Organization. Planning. I\u2019m not waiting for the writing life to randomly bounce across my path. And if the wind whips up a surprise for me, I\u2019m ready.1\n\nMacro- and Micro-Level Planning\nOver the years I\u2019ve learned to be more organized and deliberate at the macro level and micro level.\n\nThe macro level is that long-range planning that looks at the big picture of where I want to be in the next year or two. I break that down into quarterly goals. They often evolve, but I like to have projects I\u2019m working toward, even if the schedule shifts.\n\nThen there\u2019s the micro level, where I plan at a practical level.\n\nNow, the micro level is where the magic takes place. But the thing is, it\u2019s not magic at all.\n\nI make a plan and work the plan.\n\nAt the micro-level, I break a project into manageable tasks and schedule them to pace myself leading up to the deadline. I use a task management system that serves as a to-do list for each day and coordinates with a calendar. I wake up,