A Step-by-Step Guide to Plan Writing for Productivity

Do you feel like you have big writing dreams, but every day are stuck in confusion about what task you should be tackling? Wouldn’t it be amazing if there was a step-by-step writing plan you could follow and be sure of your success?

Starting out I would have given anything for a step-by-step guide telling me my next writing steps. Beginning a novel, starting an author platform, and becoming a writer was a massive hurdle for me. Overwhelm struck almost immediately.  How was I—little ol’ me—supposed to start and accomplish things I didn’t know how to do or knew I needed? That’s a lot of pressure. 

So, I went on a journey researching psychology, studying successful people, and experimenting before I figured out a system to cut away the majority of confusion from my writing life so I could focus on writing and building my blog and platform. 

Learning how to create a killer writing plan changed the way I worked. A plan also helped me keep motivated and inspired while I reached for my writing goals. No longer was all my daily mental energy spent scrambling for answers to my questions, but I could put all my focus on my thought-through roadmap. 

Which is why I am giving you this writing plan today. Pretty cool? I think so. 😉

Now, if there were a one size fits all plan for writers I would give it to you, but every person is different and so is each writing journey. 

So, I’m giving you the next best thing: a detailed system to assist you in making your customized writing plan to get your novel projects, blog, author platform, and life organized. The best part is when you have made your writing plan, you will no longer live every day in uncertainty and procrastination, but will have a plan you can follow to succeed in your dreams. 

Are you ready to get started? Great! Let’s go…

Step 1: Realize Your Ultimate Dream

To know what to work toward, you need to know what you want. I’m calling this your Ultimate Life Dream. Mine is to be a bestselling author with a successful business in writing and connecting with amazing readers and influencers. I want to go above and beyond what I think is possible for myself, and in the process I hope to change the world. 

Now it’s your turn. 

Where do you want to be in five, ten, fifteen, and fifty years? Right now don’t think about how you will reach these goals or if they are possible, just write down where you would love to be.

Do you want to be a bestselling author? Win awards for fiction or have a loyal reader base who loves your books? What lives have you changed through your writing? Do you have a family, or where is your family now? What are your hobbies? Where do you live? 

Brainstorm everything about what your life will look like. 

Do this exercise in present or past tense, not future tense. Don’t write “I will have my novel finished,” instead write “I have finished my novel” or “My novel is being published.” Your brain is a powerful persuader telling you what you can and can’t do, so tell your brain these dreams are possible. 

Feeling inspired and overwhelmed? Perfect! Now it’s time to break your massive dream into manageable and attainable chunks. 

Related: How to Use Journaling to Boost Your Writing Success

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Step 2: Pick Three

Narrowing down your focus is the next key to success. Instead of trying to do everything you dream of right now, pick one to three immediate goals you want to focus on. Make these your immediate priorities. These focuses will be what you spend your time and energy doing. 

My focuses are completing and publishing my current novel, growing my online presence, and launching an online writing business. 

Spend a little time brainstorming what you need to do right now before anything else. Do you need to finish your novel rough draft, start an author platform, or begin blogging more? Doesn’t really matter what is next for you, but choosing what to focus on for the next few months is vital. 

Related: How You Can Finish Your Novel’s Half-Written First Draft

Step 3: Setting a Timeline and End Date

Okay! You’re doing great! The third step is setting an end date and timeline for your first writing plan. Instead of making one plan for your whole life, we are going to make plans every few months. 

As life progresses we learn new information on what we need to accomplish to reach our goals, and our plans will need to adjust. That’s why making multiple action plans in your life is more efficient. 

You will have your Ultimate Life Dream, but your immediate plans will keep adjusting everyday you learn. Each plan you make will take you through unexpected adventures which will keep you checking your compass and readjusting your direction to keep on course.

There is nothing wrong with this type of living. What most people won’t tell you is creating anything is a messy business, what you do appears out of order, and you’ll accumulate more questions than answers. But this is natural. Your job is to follow your plan and readjust as needed. 

Now Your first plan can be a month, three months, or more. I wouldn’t recommend a plan longer than six to nine months especially starting out. As I just said plans will change as we get more information, so smaller timelines can be more helpful. 

Example, my current plan is six months, I’m on month three, and I’ve already shifted course twice.  Longer is not always the best course of action. 

Setting the Writing Plan End Date: 

1. Decide how far you want to get in the three focuses you chose. Example, if a focus is finishing your novel, the goal for your plan could be to finish the rough draft. Do this for each focus. 

2. Make an estimate on how long your immediate goals will take. Adding to the previous example, finishing your novel’s rough draft could be about a one-two month job. Don’t worry too much about accuracy on this end date yet, because we can adjust it after we make the timeline. 

Planning the Timeline: 

1. Make a list for what tasks you will need to do for each goal. Example, to finish your novel rough draft you may need to finish the plot, nail down your characters, and finish drafting. 

2. Write down which tasks you want to finish every month or in a certain number of days. Set your dates so you can keep track of your progress. 

Now you have a month-to-month writing plan with three concrete objectives in mind! Next up is learning how to break down the plan for monthly, weekly, and daily organization. 

Related: How to Get Motivated to Write: A Foolproof Strategy

Step 4: Monthly Writing Plan

Alright, it’s time to really get down to business. Each month you’ll want to overview your goals, where you are in your writing plan, and what is coming next. 

Have a meeting with yourself at the beginning of each month to plan the flow of your schedule. Write down dates for events and appointments, and schedule days when you will publish a blogpost or finish a particular scene in your work-in-progress. With this information, make notes of when you need to begin preparing for big events and tasks. 

The main goal is to get an overview of what your month will look like so you can make the best weekly and daily plans possible. 

Step 5: Weekly Plan

Weekly planning is where the magic of planning starts to shine. Pick a day of the week to schedule a meeting with yourself and plan the whole week. For me, I picked Sundays to plan out Monday through the next Sunday. 

How you make your weekly writing plan can be your decision. You can use an electronic calendar, classic paper planner, or print out your own planning sheets. Doesn’t matter. I use a physical planner and a notebook.

I start by looking over my monthly plan for any important events, then in my notebook I list out my goals for the week within categories. For me, I have a Writing/Business category, Reading category, Extra (for misc. and little things) category, and a category for my second job as a figure skating coach. 

Once I list what tasks I need and want to complete this week, I make a note by the checkbox on which day(s) I could get each task done. Anything big I put on my calendar. 

Once everything is listed and marked down with a solid date, I’m ready to start the week off strong. 

Step 6: Daily Plan

If you are committed to getting your writing done, daily planning is going to change your life. 

Every night before you go to sleep, bring out your weekly plan and your daily planner (I use this daily planner) and assess what is on the docket. Take a look at the tasks you marked to be done for the next day and decide if tomorrow still works. Assign the task in your planner, or assign another day or week for that task. 

Remember, the goal is to check all boxes for the week, so challenge yourself to get as much done everyday as you can. 

My daily planner has a top three priorities section, and I highly recommend you use one as well. Just like choosing one to three focuses for our writing plan, choosing three main priorities a day will help you organize your time.  

It’s tempting to plan your day in the morning, but planning the night before is far more effective. I confess to not planning at night for a long time just because it was ‘too much work.’ I would rather watch shows until I fell asleep instead of planning for the next day. 

I urge you to not make the same mistake! Planning your day the night before is a game-changer for your productivity and clarity of mind. 

Step 7: The Mid-Week Reassess 

As I mentioned earlier, the more information we gain often means our plans will change. If you are moving at great productive speeds everyday (made possible by a killer writing plan), then it’s likely your weekly plan may shift focus. 

That is fine! 

If you need to readjust, do it. If something massive changes, then schedule another planning meeting with yourself and figure it out. 

The same goes for your monthly plan, and your writing plan timeline. If you need to change something because of new information, then make it part of your plan. 

Don’t panic if a plan no longer works. Often all you need is to readjust your path. Your goal is to keep moving forward everyday, no matter what you’re working towards. PERSIST.  

Follow the Writing Plan

Having a writing plan will not guarantee you get your work done—you know this. 

The plan is the roadmap, but you need to fill the gas tank and drive the route. You need to practice discipline everyday to keep checking tasks off your lists until you finish your plan. Then celebrate!

Yes, you must do the work, but a writing plan takes away the pressure of daily indecision and confusion on what goals to focus on. Streamline your life categories to work together to reach all your goals. When you commit to planning, your productivity and progress will skyrocket. 

Planning is a habit of many, if not all, successful people. That’s enough reason for me to plan. 

Plan Your Writing + Reach Your Dreams

Congratulations! You have all the information you need to make your own rockin’ writing plan. 

Thanks for reading, and keep telling your stories! 

– Sarah

Featured photo by Tirachard Kumtanom from Pexels