Hey, even an obsessive-compulsive organizer/planner like me can learn to be less regimented, more spontaneous. If nothing else I'm giving myself a year to find out if I can.
If you're in the market for a desk planner you can write in that is geared specifically for your writing needs, check out Small Beer Press's A Working Writer's Daily Planner 2010, which you can buy in trade paper, remainder, or DRM-free e-book form at their web site. I bought this to mainly to contribute to a charity drive, but I was pleasantly surprised by how nice it is. It's a desk diary type of planner, compact but just the right size to carry along whereever you wander. Along with one-page week at a glance calendar blocks, there are pages with details on the year's sub ops, contests and residencies; writing prompts, submission and result tables, blank pages for notes and even some paper dolls for when you need a break (click here to see two inside pages; I couldn't fit all of it on my scanner but it'll give you the general idea of the layout.) It's definitely aimed more toward academics and those who are working in the literary end of the biz, but it's the first planner I've ever seen published especially for use by writers, so I thought it was pretty cool.
As you've no doubt already noticed, PBW is undergoing some renovations (a project I had intended to finished during the holidays, but NY dropped a boatload of work on me, and that had to come first.) After five years of basic black and white I thought I'd add a little color. Okay, a very little, but there's a header now, too. As for what else will be changing, you'll have to wait and see, but I hope to freshen things up and provide some new/interesting content. Stay tuned for more on that after the new year.
One change to my Scribd.com* virtual library -- because overseas readers can't purchase it, I'll be taking down my only for-sale e-book, Way of the Cheetah, as of 1/1/10. I don't know if I'll be offering it again anywhere, so if you were interested in a copy and you don't live outside the U.S., get your copy before January 1st (cost is $1.00.)
Now it's your turn: what are some of your plans for 2010? Are you giving up anything old, or starting anything new, or keeping your options open? Let us know in comments.
*Note 9/3/10: Since Scribd.com instituted an access fee scam to charge people for downloading e-books, including those I have provided for free for the last ten years, I no longer recommend using their service. See my post about this scam here.
I'm finally getting to read the new quilt books I picked up over Black Friday weekend, and really loving 
Biographies of Famous Dead Writers: Why, thank you for showing me exactly what sort of erroneous idiocies some dumbass might someday write about me or one of my friends as well as reminding me of how young we generally buy the farm. Does this come with a box of Kleenex?
Mary Balogh headlines 
Marjorie M. Liu returns to the shelves and sparkles in the 
Last but not least, I have a real gem for you, a novel that actually made me burn dinner. Now I've been known to char a chicken now and then while I'm writing, but I know I haven't incinerated a meal while reading since I got a galley copy of 
Of course I know better, but this is Jake's book. Those of us who have been blogging since the good old days have also been waiting to read Jake's book for a long time -- five, maybe six years now? And it was worth the wait; I got so lost in the story that I didn't resurface until my guy arrived home -- three hours later -- and asked me what was for dinner. As it turned out that night, not pasta. I did take a shot of the scorched pot for posterity, though, because this book is just the first in what promises to be an amazing trilogy. I'm completely hooked, so I should probably save the fire department a trip and get another extinguisher for the kitchen. Maybe two.
Time seems to move too fast these days, doesn't it? I swear, the kids just went back to school; I blinked and suddenly it was Halloween. Thanksgiving -- a day that for me has always been a nonstop celebration of food and family and fun -- was a flash this year. If I hadn't cooked all day I would have sworn we microwaved Thanksgiving. 
I love shopping in the fabric store on a sale day. I found some great batiks, a couple of terrific gifts for my guild friends, and three neat new sewing concept books, all at 40%-50% off. Once I'd finished shopping for the stuff I want I gave into the impulse and went back to confirm that all the thread cabinets were gone, and they were . . . except one. There was actually one left. 
