Ally Aldridge Page Layout, Personal, Planner, Stickers

Suffolk UKPA Meet

The Christmas Meet Up

On Saturday, 30 November 2019, I attended the Suffolk UK Planner Meet up.

What sort of planner girl am I?

I felt like a fraud going because I am the worst planner girl.  I aspire to be organised and I love stationery, so the planner girl world really appeals to me but I am so disorganised that I can’t plan. Ironic – I know!

But, I went to the first  Planner Meet (April 2019) for Suffolk UKPA.  We had afternoon tea and I hoped to get some tips from experienced planner girls to help me get started.  The women I met were so lovely that when the invitation for the next meet came up I thought… Why not?

What happened at the meet?

I confessed that I am failing as a planner girl but the ladies didn’t shun me.  They welcomed me and we chatted about life, drank tea and enjoyed the nibbles provided.

The hosts, Ellen and Laura had prepared a craft activity for fun.  Laura (Instagram:  @the_do_it_all_mum_uk) had bought wooden discs, some twine and Christmas napkins from Poundland.  This was an incredibly simple activity with impressive results.  I love my new Christmas Decoration and can say “I made it!”

Ellen (Instagram:  @ellenbeemakes) brought her Etsy store to us.  It was great to have a browse through her stock and be able to ask her questions.  Ellen has a great YouTube channel to support creatives with using her products or other crafts.  She is a crafty mastermind.

Ellen and Laura also put together a goodie bag for attendees.  The video below shows what was inside and will help you discover her YouTube channel.

If that wasn’t awesome enough, the event also included a swap table. People brought with them stickers and other stationery that they didn’t need to give away for others to use.  I helped myself to a pad of paper for Noah, some stickers and washi tape.

Here are a few pictures of what I came home with.

Some of the women brought their planners and generously shared how they use them.  I fell in with a planner by Becca (Instagram @simplyhobonichi).  Her planner looked like something out of a magazine.  It had a beautiful personal feeling like a scrapbook.  This is the sort of planner I aspire to create.  She kindly told me about her favourite pens and let me take pictures to send to my husband to form part of my Christmas wishlist.

I’m so happy that I attended.  It was a lovely break from my kids (and if you’ve read my NaNo diary you will know why that was needed).  Being with these women made me feel rejuvenated.  I would definitively be interested in going again.

If you want to find out more about meets, join their Facebook group, Suffolk UKPA.

If you like this, you will enjoy

Gifts for writers

I got to tour Ingram Spark’s print facility

My new Carpe Diem planner

Handwrite to boost creativity

Click my link tree to discover more ways to connect with me.

@Redfae

Ally Aldridge Goals, Personal, Writing

Reflecting on goals

To start the year, I set myself some goals for the year ahead.  I plan to check periodically during the year on how well I am keeping on track.  If you set yourself goals it is important to check on yourself to make sure you are on target and to re-focus yourself.

If you want to view my last check in on myself, click here.

Achievements

If you only focus on what wasn’t achieved then you lose sight of what you did achieve and feel like giving up.  By making time to reflect on my wins, I see, I did better than I originally thought:

  • Participated in NaNoWriMo (July) and made progress on my WIP
  • My article on Orangutans was published by Ginger Parrot
  • I took part in several twitter events!

img_9787

On Reflection

Here are the highlights from this quarte:

Summary:  This has been a very challenging period as I was very tired towards the end of my pregnancy and having a newborn has been demanding.  It would have been very easy to give up (or take a break) but somehow I have managed to keep at it and I am proud of myself for my tenacious spirit.

Blogging: My posting has slowed down but I am keeping to the new schedule – some posts have gone live later in the day than originally planned but I am keeping up.  I have more ideas than time to write but that is always better than writers block!

Writing: My goal for NaNo was rather ambitious but I a still very proud of what I did manage to accomplish in July (almost 15k).  I have also been brave and finally took part in Twitter events (#Pitchwars, #PitMad, #AskAnna).  I also had a great time at Felixstowe Book Festival.

2018 09 Goals Revie

Blogging Goals Review

  • ACHIEVED:  I have created a new schedule that include one to two posts per week and I am managing to keep up with it.
  • NOT ACHIEVED:  I have not had time to look at LoCal.  I got as far as making a spreadsheet with the links but didn’t get as far as coming up with a scheduling plan.
  • ACHIEVED: If you have been following me you will have noticed that there has been more personal posts as I have shared days out with my son, my pregnancy and the arrival of my baby girl.
  • NOT ACHIEVED:  I am not ready to vlog.  I have lots of ideas but at the moment it can take me almost all day to get a chance to wash my face! The last thing I want to do is be in front of the camera.
  • ACHIEVED: I am using a spreadsheet in Google to see my content plan.  I also keep track of ideas I have for posts and colour the cell – I then can copy this into the schedule where it best fits.  This method is working really well for me.

Writing Goals Review

  • ACHIEVED:  Taking part in NaNo gave me the motivation to keep adding to my word count and I made progress almost every day.  My goal was 25k which I didn’t reach but I am so pleased with what I did achieve and hope to finish the first draft by the end of the year.
  • ALMOST ACHIEVED: My son started school this month and I got to make a start on Who Runs The World by Virginia Bergin.  I bought this book at Felixstowe Book Festival after her event (click here to read about Lunch with Virginia) 
  • ACHIEVED:  I submitted to #PitchWars to hopefully get a mentor *fingers crossed*.  But, I didn’t stop there!  I also took part in #PitMad and #AskAnna.
  • ACHIEVED:  During #AskAnna I was able to identify the best course for me by CB Creative.  I also still have my online courses by “Write Story Books” to complete.

New goals

For the months ahead, I have updated the table:

2018 09 Goals New

My highest priorities are to continue to be consistent with my blog posting and to finish my novel.  I also would really love to be published on Ginger Parrot again so will attempt to write another article for them.

I have my heart set on working with a mentor but the competition for #PitchWars was strong.  However, during #AskAnna I was informed of The Literacy Consultancy who have a private mentor service.  It is not cheap but sounds like what I want.  What do you think of a writing mentor?

The events helped me to connect with other writers which I hadn’t expected.  It was lovely to see how other writers were so supportive of each other.  I would encourage others to take part in Twitter events and would be interested in doing more.  Do you do Twitter events or know of any you would recommend?

if_twitter-01-01_3066980  if_instagram-01-01_3066990  if_youtube-01-01_3066976  if_g-01-01_3066962

Ally plus text

Ally Aldridge Goals, Personal, Writing

Reflecting on goals

To start the year, I set myself some goals for the year ahead.  I plan to check periodically during the year on how well I am keeping on track.  If you set yourself goals it is important to check on yourself to make sure you are on target and to re-focus yourself.

If you want to view my last check in on myself, click here.

Achievements

This is a new section in my personal reflection. I am often so hard on myself and critical that I forget to celebrate my wins. Today, I am acknowledging what I achieved and giving myself a pat on the back:

  • Completed NaPoWriMo’s 30 day challenge
  • Achieved over 100 followers
  • I wrote a guest article for Carol J Forrester’s blog, Writing and Works (click here)
  • My poem on mental health was featured on Stoner On A Rollercoaster’s blog (click here)

On Reflection

Here a the highlights from this quatre:

Summary:  Putting my goals into a table has made it much clearer as to what my targets are. I am really pleased with some of my achievements this quarter.

Blogging: I am so pleased with how I have not only managed to post weekly but most weeks I’ve posted three or more articles. It has really helped to have a schedule with topic ideas.

Writing: In April I attempted NaPoWriMo. The support of the poet community was amazing and really boosted my confidence. Posting daily was a challenge in itself, let alone trying to meet the daily prompt.

2018 June - Goals review

Blogging Goals Review

  • ACHIEVED:  I exceeded my weekly post target every week. On average I’ve been posting three to four articles and in April I posted daily, sometimes more than once!
  • ALMOST ACHIEVED:  The draw back of so many articles is time to schedule the tweets on LoCal. I think I need to rethink my Twitter schedule to make this more manageable.
  • ACHIEVED: I have really enjoyed sharing more personal articles about my family life and plan to include more personal content in future.
  • ACHIEVED:  I have started including some personal posts on my blog such as my son’s World Book Day and What I’ve Been Watching.
  • NOT ACHIEVED: I tried vlogging and created two videos but I wasn’t confident enough to share them. Maybe with more practice I’ll get better and he more confident in my video content.
  • ACHIEVED: The monthly schedule has been awesome. It really helps to see what I plan to post and when. I keep ideas for posts and can switch items in my plan as needed.

Writing Goals Review

  • ACHIEVED:  I have finished querying Drift. I’m now handling the “we thought it was good but not for us right now” gentle stream of rejections. If I don’t hear good news, I still have three other options I am considering.
  • ACHIEVED: Yes, I got my tickets and I’m looking forward to the events at Felixstowe Book Festival. There will be an article on how it went.
  • ACHIEVED:  I have now finished The Gender Game and two other books. I’m roughly getting through a novel every two months, so next quarter that will be my goal. I’m currently deciding what to read next.
  • ALMOST ACHIEVED:  I have been reading about Pitch Wars. I am still not sure what to do but I think as a writer I don’t get involved until August… we’ll see. It would be awesome to have a mentor.

New goals

For the months ahead,. I have updated the table:

2018 June - Goals set

As I wasn’t successful at keeping my Twitter schedule up-to-date, I am going to try and improve that in the next quatre.  I’m still keen to try vlogging but it is not as high in my importance as it was earlier this year.

In the next quatre, I expect I will reduce my blogging frequency in favour of getting back into novel writing and to allow me to take it more easy with a newborn.

My wild imagination cannot let go of the dream of being published and I am holding out hope that perhaps an agent I have queries will want to take my novel on.  If that was to happen, working with them would be my number one priority.

if_twitter-01-01_3066980  if_instagram-01-01_3066990  if_youtube-01-01_3066976  if_g-01-01_3066962

Ally plus text