Using The Bullet Journal Method For Writers

As a child, I watched my father take expensive pieces of quarto drawing paper, fold them threefold and write to-do lists.  A few weeks later, he would fold another piece of quarto and copy most of the tasks from the old list on to the new one.  Even at the tender age I was, I perceived that the time he spent compiling his lists could have been used more effectively in working through the tasks on them.

Writers cannot afford to be dreamy and disorganised.  They also need somewhere to write down ideas as they occur.  When we’re told that we should always have our notebooks with us, we nod sagely, whilst thinking to ourselves, ‘I should buy one’ or ‘I must dig out that notebook I bought ages ago from my knicker/underpants drawer’ or ‘I wish I had the confidence to get my notebook out of my handbag when I need to write something down.  I mean, people might think I’m a writer or something!“

The Bullet Journal was devised by Ryder Carroll, in his best-selling book The Bullet Journal Method.  The Bullet Journal is a combination of an appointment diary, to-do list, and repository for ideas and consists of brief entries (bullets) which can be viewed and understood at a glance, with every page being numbered and indexed.  It is ideal for jotting down ideas for stories and not instantly losing them – and not as ostentatious as a traditional writers’ notebook.  A typical Bullet Journal will consist of standard items (such as the Future Log, Monthly and Weekly Log), and Collections (for projects) but you can set up yours to suit you, your writing and other commitments.  Mine looks like this:

• Index
• Future Log – events and targets for every month except the current one
• Monthly Log – events and tasks in this month
• Weekly Spread – events and tasks for this week.
• Collections – ideas and planning for projects in connection with the ACW Jubilee, church and for stories.

Being a writer, I list events and tasks vertically down the page or rule boxes around them, but more arty journal-ers draw beautiful doodles and borders.

Bullet Journals are defiantly analogue - handwritten.  It is possible to buy an official Bullet Journal notebook (with ready-numbered pages) and pens, but it’s quite acceptable to use any old lined notepad from a cheapo store (as I have) and numbered one’s own pages.  There are apps for Bullet Journaling, but doing it electronically would take away the satisfaction of drawing a pencil cross through task/events ‘done’.

Plotting out days and weeks in my Bullet Journal has so far helped me, not only to remember important dates and tasks, but to prioritise the important over the everyday and urgent.  Write that story can be a pious aim.  Allocating time for it on specified few days in my Bullet Journal will get me writing it.  On the other hand, as we all know, stuff happens and sometimes tasks don’t get done.  Bullet Journal-ers have a way of dealing with this, without beating themselves up – migrating.  With a < or > they move the task on to another day, week or even the Future Log.

For more information on Bullet Journaling, visit https://bulletjournal.com/ and https://www.goodhousekeeping.com/life/a25940356/what-is-a-bullet-journal/  It would be good to hear from More Than Writers readers, who are more experienced Bullet Journal-ers than I, in the Comments below.

Rosemary Johnson has had many short stories published, in print and online, amongst other places, Cafe Lit, Scribble, The Copperfield Review, Fiction on the Web and 101 Words.  She has also contributed to Together magazine and Christian Writer.  She has also written a historical novel, set in the Solidarity years in Poland.  In real life, she is a retired IT lecturer, living in Suffolk with her husband and cat.