Bloggiesta Day 1: In the Thick of It

The first day of Bloggiesta is halfway over and I'm trucking along with the goals I've set for myself. I've been a little slower this afternoon as I managed to get a little distracted by things like my iPad, YouTube, and Facebook. Oops. The good news is, success is still being had - just in smaller quantities.

I made a really dumb mistake earlier today that totally worked out in my favor. I was just sitting here tooling along on a few items when I realized that it was 1:45pm...3:45pm EST. In a quick panic, I pulled up TweetDeck, certain that I was missing the Twitter chat. But...it turns out I just don't know how to read. The chat is tomorrow, not today. I'll get a second attempt at showing up on time. Phew.

The good news is that I have managed to finish one more item on my list and I'm in the midst of four (yes...four) others. Okay, really I guess it's five if you count reading other Bloggiesta posts and commenting, because I've been doing a little of that too.

Here's where I'm at right now...

1. Update reading challenge pages.

2. Update bucket list challenge pages.

3. Participate in Sunday's Twitter Chat at 3pm EST.

4. Redesign blog planner.

5. Sort through Goodreads emails and update TBR. (in progress)

6. Create TBR jar. (in progress)

7. Create project jar. (in progress)

8. Create blog post idea jar. (in progress)

9. Write Top Ten Tuesday posts for June/July/August (at least some...).

10. Visit other Bloggiesta bloggers and comment. Be social!! (TOTALLY happening!)

I'm quite thrilled that I completed #4. I really did love my blog planner when I put it together a little over a year ago, but it was too big and too bulky and wound up just sitting in a drawer instead of getting properly used. Then I started writing things down in other notebooks and on scraps of paper and it all just turned into a chaotic mess. It was time for a streamlined change.

Here's what I started with:

Excuse the horribly grainy picture. The iPad can't be trusted...

The large original planner binder, the smaller green planner, miscellaneous printer papers, a legal pad, the blue project design notebook, and a steno notebook. Meanwhile, the binder was stuffed with all kinds of weird, loose papers.

And here's what I ended up with:

Ahh. One nice and tidy, portable-sized green planner.

I compiled everything into this cute little planner that I got at Staples. I use one of these for my regular daily planner as well (it's the ARC system in case you're curious...and no, this isn't a sponsored post - I just like my planners). 

I have things divided by tabs to keep track of my "to do" list, the upcoming topics for Top Ten Tuesday, my read-a-thon schedule, plans for the year's pumpkin display, plans for holiday gift projects, and the plan for next year's A to Z Challenge (among other things). I'd show you the individual pages but...blog secrets and all of that. I can't be just showing you everything! (You do have a bit of a sneak peek of a wall collage I have planned. Does that help?)

I'm sooooo much happier. This cutesy little planner measures about 9" high and 6" wide. It's about 1 1/2" thick and has to be held closed by a band since I stuffed it with pages (the system does have the option of larger rings, but I didn't have enough of them left). Still...it's about 1000 times better than the gigantic 3" 3-ring binder (and other assorted accouterments) I was using before. This is much more portable and accessible. It also helps that Bloggiesta projects 6-8 are allowing me to remove some items from the planner that were previously taking up a lot of real estate.

What do you think? Do you use a blog planner? What are the essential pieces of your planner that you can't live without?