I am a planner. I love to make outlines and checklists. I like to know where I am going and what I will do when I get there. I love plans so much I keep a day planner right next to my computer, and I look at it several times a day. (Except when I am fast drafting.)

In that planner, I make travel plans and floorplans, meal plans and garden plans, book plans and revision plans. All these lay out the direction I’m to go, what I will need, the pros and the cons, and the amount of commitment it will require. The problem is that these plans are for the as yet unknown future — a future that is often unpredictable.

Having had a recent spell of plans not going well, I’ve been thinking a lot of about how to fix this.

The Problems

Let’s start with the major problems. All sorts of things can go haywire with plans, but most often it is . . .

Timing

If you have never done something before, or even if you have, it is impossible to know exactly how long it will take. I might think I can draft a novel in a month. I may even have done it before. That doesn’t mean that I can do it this month or the next, especially if suddenly something unplanned sucks up my time.

Interruptions

Note that suddenly. Things happen unexpectedly. Annoying and infuriating interruptions are out of our control and often demanding. Whatever it is, it will require a rethinking of the plan, which can be very hard to do. Some of the most difficult interruptions are illness and family issues. But then there are things like having lightning strike, which knocked out our electric, and disappeared the entire chapter I just wrote.

Unworkable

This is probably the hardest one to fix. Some plans look good on paper, are clear in our minds, and just don’t work. For me, this most often happens when drafting from my detailed plotting outline or beat sheet. The premise is great. The synopsis is great. But the characters don’t agree. Somewhere mid-story they decide to go in another direction, and my lovely plan falls apart. I can safely say that not one of my novels matched my original plan for it.

The Fixes

There are always going to be time crunches, interruptions, and wonky plans. Here are some things that have worked for me. Maybe they will work for you, too.

• Overschedule. Allow more time for the planned activity. If you think you will need a month. Plan for two. If you end up finishing sooner, reward yourself, and do something you love in that extra time
• Nudge and Budge. Change the plan a little or a lot. Cut or add. Reconfigure or try a new tack. Use pencil and make it erasable.
• Be Flexible. Be willing to lay aside one plan in order to accomplish another.
• Float It. Just can’t get to it? Let the plan drift. It may be something you really don’t want to do or can do at that moment. But it may be something you will come back to sooner than you think.
• Create Order. Make a Must Do List. Look at your plans and order them from things that must be done in the current timeframe and ones that cannot or don’t have to be.
• Reschedule. Erase the can not and impossible plans to a more distant time or a Maybe List and wipe them off your current calendar or planner. Getting them out of sight will lower your stress level, and maybe, by the time you come upon them again, your life will be freer or the plan no longer relevant.
• Weigh It. Is the crunching time schedule or the interruption more important than what you had planned? Then address what is looming without regret.
• Redo: Take that wonky, impossible plan and throw it away. Then start over with a fresh mind and new approach. Perhaps a new template or plot chart will give a fresh perspective. Perhaps an article or an idea will inspire a new plan.

Epliogue: Or Why To Keep Planning

Since plans fall apart, does this mean we never make plans? Absolutely not.

PLANS WORK!

Not having a plan, even one as simple as a list of things to do in our heads, leads to chaos. Making plans helps us:

• Organize our thinking.
• Make us think logically.
• See things in new ways.
• Explore different pathways.
• Know what materials and tools we need to have.
• Spread a task over a period of time.
• Provide a series of steps and goals to meet.

Summary

Put your plan(s) in perspective. Are they merely ideas you have had about organizing tasks you think you should do? Does it matter if you cook something different for dinner than you planned? WiIl it matter if you haven’t gotten to cleaning out the garage yet? Will anyone care that your story draft came out different than you planned? If so, then go with the flow and spend the time, embrace the interruption, and live in the moment.

Or have you planned something that has to be done: something that can change your life or someone else’s, or will destroy something if it doesn’t happen? Make sure it is the best plan possible, the time frame is reasonable, and interruptions are being handled either by someone else or by using one of the techniques above. Then clear away those other plans and hunker down.

And do what matters most, first.

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Are you a story planner? Then you are a HERO! Here is a Hero’s Journey Beat Sheet Template for you

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