Writing is my first love but third career. My first career was as a financial/strategic planning analyst and business consultant. My next, while I was home and the kids were young, was as a small business/database/QuickBooks consultant. Now that the kids are older, it’s writing.

When my daughter was a baby, I decided to finally do what I’d been wanting to do for years and work as a freelance writer. I wasn’t doing it as a hobby. I wanted to do it as a business. Because of that, it only made sense to me to make a plan. I was surprised by how many writers were surprised by my plan. Their take on it was that you couldn’t plan for something over which you have no control. My take on it was that I could at least try to wind up where I wanted to be.

It’s been 12 years and I still make a plan. It’s not a signed-in-stone plan. It’s more like a master overview. It helps me to stay on top of the things I need to do to keep a good balance of work. It helps me to have some idea of what I hope to accomplish. I’ve been teased about my plan, having several people point out that my plan is highly mutable – often winding up with versions all the way up through G or F. That’s okay. To me a plan is a work in progress. A road map to use and modify as conditions change.

Do you plan? How does it work for you?