I receive NO compensation or benefit of any kind from any of my recommendations.
I've shared most of these tools before, but not in a comprehensive post.
I like to keep track of my timeline on a paper calendar. It doesn't matter what year it is. I just pick the month and day when the story starts and I keep going.
The Paladin League timeline spans three years now because Wicked Obsession started earlier than the bulk of the series.
I came up with this method of tracking book time at least fifteen years ago, probably longer. I was wasting so much time rereading what I'd already written, trying to figure out what day it was and how many days had passed when I needed to be writing.
This Calendar from Calendar-12.com is the one I use. I love that the boxes are nice and big, giving me plenty of room to write. (FREE RESOURCE)
I actually have two versions of the calendar. This is the working copy with lots of white outs. I also have a good copy where I color coded the pen for each book.
Another tool I really like is a Twelve Box Comic Panel from PrintablePaper.net. (FREE RESOURCE)
This site has all kinds of printable paper, so if you're looking for game score sheets, a numbered list, school notes, or some other template you can print and use, this site has lots and lots and lots of choices.
For writing, I use the Twelve Box Comic Panel. I chose this one because it was the largest set of boxes. There's also a Nine Box version and some other versions with different size/aligned boxes. I usually write about 36 chapters to a book (sometimes more/sometimes less), so 12 boxes means I need 3 sheets per book.
This is the first page from Wicked Suspicion. It's redacted because I don't want to spoil the book for anyone. I keep track of whose Point of View I'm in, and I write a few lines about what happens in the scene/chapter. I also write down what day of the week it is, but this is not my primary timeline. It's just a quick reference.
Sometimes, when I'm writing fast, I might fall behind a number of boxes. I always end up frustrated that I didn't keep up because inevitably, I need to refer to it and my info isn't there.
Tool Number Three on the I can't live without it list is my kanban board. I don't have a link to this because I created it myself. I have a cutter and I bought the wall vinyl. I needed a big, chunky font, so while I'm not in love with this style, it's at least fun and quirky and it cut well on my machine. I usually cut stickers for my planner so this was a new adventure for me.
There's a To Do section, a In Work section, and a Finished section. (Ignore the word in gold. I choose a word of the year and that's from a few years ago. I haven't taken the time to remove it. Yet.) As you can see, Wicked Suspicion is DONE! I use Post-it Notes, one for each chapter, and move them as appropriate.
Why I like it: I can see in a glance how much more writing I need to do. It's also in my face since I put it on a wall I have to see every time I walk out of my office. Because I change the notes quarterly, I can't be full of myself and all those Post-its in the finished section for very long. It's motivating.
Tool Number Four is the only tool on this list that isn't free. It's a spreadsheet template that I purchased on Etsy for project management. (PAID RESOURCE)
I not only keep track of each chapter here, I also keep track of the cover art for the current book and the next book, editing, copy edits, paperback cover, uploading, formatting, and basically any other step that is part of putting out a book.
This is a tool that works for me because I'm good with Microsoft Excel and I was able to edit the template to fit my needs. It's workable straight from the download, but I made it author specific.
Why I like it: I'll post a picture to show why I love it so hard.
I love this overview page! It can see how I'm doing on my budget. I can see how many tasks I have left to do. Most of the 12 left for Wicked Suspicion involve edits, copy edits, formatting, promo, and the paperback cover.
I bought it while I was working on Wicked Persuasion, that's why there are fewer tasks there than on Suspicion.
This template holds SIX projects! I have a number of books setup and ready to manage. I will confess that I use this more after the draft is done and I'm into editing and promotion. There seem to be so many steps and this helps keep me focused.
