it's a 🎉planning party🎉 and you're invited! Sunday, August 27, 3-4pm eastern on zoom

a low-stress guide to planning your writing life, with help from special guest Erin Flanagan, novelist and planner extraordinaire

Hello there! It’s still brain-meltingly hot here on the east coast, and I’m still a little wobbly from jet lag, but fall is coming. I can feel it.

I’ll write more about this in Sunday’s monthly intentions email, but this is the time of year when my back to school energy fires up. I want to buy a BIG CALENDAR, get BRIGHT PENS, and finally GET MY LIFE IN ORDER. I’m going to get a NEW SYSTEM and finally transform myself into a shiny, efficient engine of productivity.

it’s a sign! (art installation at PHL, by Amberella; you can read more about it here)

But, in my [number redacted]-th year of back to school, I’ve also learned some things about myself. I don’t actually need a whole new color-coding scheme or the perfect notebook. (Though I probably will get some new pens and maybe even some stickers, if I’m feeling fancy.) What I need is a plan.

And this is where you come in: I’m hosting a zoom planning party with novelist and planner extraordinaire Erin Flanagan this Sunday, August 27 from 3-4 pm eastern, and you’re invited! You can register here to get the link.

Erin and I will talk about how we approach planning our writing time, then we’ll all work on our own fall calendars for a bit, then we'll come back together and chat. At the end of the hour, you’ll have some new strategies and a plan for your writing life for the fall—what you want to achieve, how you’ll stake out time to do it, and how to know you’re on the right track.

I’m especially excited about hosting this with Erin because she’s one of the smartest people I know in terms of planning for creative work—and because she and I work a bit differently. (I keep saying I’m going to track my writing time like Erin does! I’ve set up so many spreadsheets! It just does not work for my brain or my process—but I’ll share what does.) If you’re a busy person, someone with big hopes and dreams for your writing life, and also lots of other things competing for your time and attention, this party is for you.

can’t you just tell how smart and funny Erin is from this picture? you’re going to want to hear all about her systems for writing!

And if all that 🌟organization🌟 wasn’t enough for you—we’re also going to give away some books! Erin has a brand-new book, Come With Me, out today, and I’m a huge fan of her previous novels, Blackout and Deer Season. A couple lucky party attendees will win a copy of one of Erin’s novels, and I’ll also give away a couple copies of my anthology The Long Devotion: Poets Writing Motherhood.

To join us, register here. After you register, you’ll get an email with the zoom link. (I’ll also re-send the link a couple hours before the party as a little reminder. And if you don’t get your email, or if you have any questions, just send me an email.)

What to bring:

• your good ideas and big dreams for writing projects this fall

• a calendar, and/or whatever kind of planner you use, plus some snazzy pens, cute highlighters or little stickers, if you like. (I’ve learned that a new notebook won’t solve my writing problems, but nice office supplies also don’t hurt.)

I wish I could make you all a bunch of dips (what’s a party without dip???) but instead, we’ll bring our very best ideas for how to make the most of your writing time this fall. If you’re interested, but can’t make Sunday’s time, I’ll record the first bit and share it afterward—but you’ll miss out on the community and the book raffle!

TL; DR: come plan with us on zoom this Sunday, August 27 from 3-4pm eastern!!!

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Write More, Be Less Careful is a newsletter about why writing is hard & how to do it anyway. I’d love to hear from you. Reply to this email, comment below, or find me on instagram (@nancy.o.reddy). 

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