I love to plan. I’ve been a planner since I can remember. I used to fall asleep as a child planning my future.

My first planner? A cordovan Franklin Covey A5 binder. Zip. (You planner nerds will be able to translate.)

Now, I use a Moleskine grid notebook, and I do a loose version of bullet journaling.

What is Bullet Journaling?

A man named Ryder Carroll turned this into a thing. You can read more about the system here.

The thing is, I don’t use all those different symbols. I’m more of a list-maker, but then I organize those lists.

And better yet? I can even organize my stories.

How Do I Use a Bullet Journal for Organizing a Story?

Granted, I’ve only organized a short story of about 6,000 words so far, from start to finish, in a journal. But it was nice to have the story in my bullet journal as I toted it around town. I could flip to it and brainstorm whenever I wanted to.

I also typed and pasted revision notes into the bullet journal. Again, it was nice to tote around in a journal I was already carrying.

The biggest take-away point? You want to have immediate access to your story. I’ve tried Evernote, but I’m not much of a digital girl when it comes to revision and massaging a story. I need to write and highlight and doodle.

And that’s how my bullet journal fits in.

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