The other day I found myself browsing for a new planner.

Did I need one?

No.

Did I want one?

Oh, definitely.

I didn’t get one, but as I was looking I came across one that was really nice, had almost exactly what I needed and seemed like a reasonable price…until I realized it was a three-month planner, not for the whole year. The price didn’t seem all that great, then.

But it got me to thinking.

Why would someone buy a three-month planner? Why not buy one for the whole year? I know that I tend to put all of the important dates into my planner and wall calendar right away. Once and done.

Then I thought, aren’t I looking for a new planner only (at the time) four months into the year? Isn’t this something I do all of the time, or roughly every 3-4 months?

I consulted past planners (no, I don’t keep them all, only the ones with certain significant dates) and realized that I tend to use them for 3-4 months, skip a few months, pick it up again, rinse and repeat.

Then I looked at a planner that I had created, one that was just blank pages to use how I wanted. I had reading trackers and habit trackers, goals pages, and three different versions of the daily/weekly planner pages because over the course of the year what and how I wanted to use the planner apparently changed.

Suddenly, that three-month planner didn’t seem so overpriced.

(No, I still haven’t bought it.)

So what is the point of me telling you all this?

I’ve decided to scrap the year of monthly challenges. Is it because I have suddenly started writing all of the time again and have a novel half-planned? 

Nope.

It’s because my focus has changed, and to force myself to keep doing the challenges is no longer fun. I’ve learned a heck of a lot about myself, my habits, and what I want to do moving forward.

The challenges did what I needed them to, and now it feels like doing the challenges is stopping me from just doing the writing.

I want to write a novel, and that’s not going to get done in a month or two, or maybe even this year, but I’m not going to get anything done by giving myself projects to do that don’t leave me time to write, or research for the writing.

What does that mean for future posts?

I’ll keep to the same schedule, regular weekly post then a picture/quote post, and just have fun with it like I had been. Maybe write a post about something interesting I saw while out on a walk one week, and write about a particular writing tip I learned the next. Just write for pleasure that I can share with you all.

And then we’ll see…

(Note: My father pointed out, when I told him about my 3-4 month changes, that it could have to do with the fact that I worked in a college environment for over 15 years, with semesters lasting about 4 months, 3 months for the summer (not counting the wonky holiday/winter break). Each of these parts of the year was different enough that I actually would change things up for work planners, and it was carried over into my personal life without me consciously knowing it. That is just wild, when I think about it!)