... but there's no end in sight!
Natural planning, Poynter's
Chip Scanlan said, has nothing to do with birth control, and everything to do with helping you get your work done.
This one counts as a few tips.
13-17 Make a plan.
"If you follow this method," Chip said, "good things will happen, wild successes will happen."
It starts with a project. Anything really. Clean the garage, file your taxes on time, get a story on the front page.
"In this case," Chip said, "the journey matters more than the destination."
Articulating a project can be less intimidating, Chip said, if you ax the verb-driven sentence for a declarative one.
The garage is clean. The taxes are filed on time. The story is on the front page.
Then, ask yourself these five questions:
1.) Why am I doing this?
2.) What will wild success look like?
3.) How will I do it, in a number of specific steps?
4.) When will I complete these things?
5.) Where will this get me at when I'm finished?
This method, Chip said, is how he and his wife brought to completion a project they had conceived 30 years earlier. It was a Christmas story. And it became
"The Holly Wreath Man."So, take out a piece of paper. Write down the project you're working on, or one you're dreaming of working on. And get planning.
Coming soon >>> Chip on Hartford's literary history.
Steve Friedman on finding and selling the stories you love. And, later this afternoon,
Dan Barry on story ideas.
