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Tracking your writing doesn’t have to just be limited to a word count! Creating a plan or schedule for your writing sessions can be game changer for productivity. Young writer Mahreema J. suggests using a bullet journal to keep your novels organized! 

During these difficult times, living behind closed doors, I have found it extremely difficult to make time for my daily activities. I am positive that some of you have scrolled through social media and have found some pictures on Bullet Journals. For those of you who don’t know the concept, bullet journaling is you designing (doesn’t have to be fancy, or anything) a planner for you to organize yourself.

“It's part organization, part soul-searching, part dream-weaving.”

― Ryder Carroll, The Bullet Journal Method: Track the Past, Order the Present, Design the Future

Now I know some of you may already be thinking ‘Its half-way throughout the year. Aren’t bullet journals supposed to begin in January?’ Well, in my opinion, that’s the wrong way to think about it. Bullet journals are for organization—you don’t need to begin them at a specific time.

This also applies to how nice it should look. Most bullet journals are highly decorative and fancy. This immediately puts people off because they think they can never do something like that. You can do anything, if you put your mind to it! But if you still don’t want to, you can always go minimal.

If you don’t want to dedicate yourself by starting a whole planner for scheduling yourself, that’s ok! The main idea is to get organized, so you have time for everything you want to do. If you want to, you can even just grab some paper, or Post-It-Notes to stick on your fridge. It’s completely up to you.

Here are some tips for bullet journaling I’ve found to be helpful:

• I create trackers in my bullet journal for how long I wrote each day (and how long I procrastinated) and compare it to the other days.
• Your can always bend your schedule for certain days! No stress!
• Bullet journaling may seem time-consuming, and you may feel you could have been writing your wonderful novel during that time. But bullet journaling can a very effective tool to help you get your writing done.