Revision Planner for Writers

You’ve finished your draft. You’re proud—but now you’re staring at the manuscript, overwhelmed. You know something is off, but you can’t name it. You’ve read it so many times the words have stopped meaning anything.

You try to revise. You open the document. You… stare. You close it. You open it again. Where do you even start? What needs attention first? How do you stay focused when the project feels like an impossible tangle of plot threads, character arcs, and scene-level tics?

This is not a writing problem. This is an organization problem. And it’s exactly what I built the Revision Planner for Writers to solve.

First: A confession

I'm obsessed with organizing. I have ADHD, but I wasn't diagnosed till I was in my mid-thirties. So I had thirty-plus years of experience coming up with coping tactics before I finally got help. And, frankly, the help doesn't help all the time. Some days it's easy to focus and knock out what I need to get done. Other days, I'm fighting executive dysfunction and task choice paralysis the whole day and it feels like every productive step forward costs two steps back.

So I love planners. I love bullet journaling. I love making lists. I love designing trackers and logs for myself. I've said this before and I'll say it again now in case you missed it: Every tool I make and sell to you is a tool I love and use myself. I'm not guessing at what you might want from me. I'm making what I need myself and then also sharing it with you. That's the model.

I've used Goodnotes planners before, bought planning sheet templates off Etsy and imported them and used them and loved them.

So when I realized I could make a planner—not something that was close to what I wanted but exactly what I wanted and needed—I was all in. Immediately.

Ineffective approaches and the better way

Most writers try to revise the same way they drafted: by feel. We open the manuscript, read a chapter, fix a line, tweak a paragraph, and hope it adds up to a better book. But revision isn't drafting. Drafting is generative. Revision is editorial. It needs a different mindset and a different set of tools.

You can't revise a 90,000-word novel by keeping it all in your head. You need a system—well, maybe you don't but I do. A place to track plot holes, character inconsistencies, scene-level pacing, and line-level polish—everything you find during your read-through—all in one organized, searchable, linked document.

That's what the planner provides. Not more work. Structure.

About the Revision Planner for Writers

The Revision Planner for Writers is a complete novel revision tracker and undated daily planner in one. It’s a digital download for Goodnotes and Notability, fully hyperlinked for instant navigation—a toolbar at the top of every page, plus a linked index.

It’s built on the same macro-to-micro methodology I've used as an editorial director for 20 years. The same process that works on traditionally published novels, now available to you.

Inside, you’ll find:

• A complete undated yearly planner. One year; 12 months; 5 weeks per month; 7 days per week. All hyperlinked so you never have to swipe more than once or twice to find what you need.

• Seven collection sections. Setup, Structure, Character, Scene, Polish, Beta, and Final Pass.

• 67 collection pages across those sections. Trackers, logs, prompts, and checklists that guide you from first read-through to final pass.

Every page has a navigation bar at the top to quickly get you to where you want to go. Each day links back to its week, each week back to its month, and the months link to their weeks and back up to the year. The main thing that annoys me in digital planners is swiping forever looking for what I need. So we're not doing that in this planner.

How it works

Let’s say you’re struggling with a scene. The dialogue feels flat, but you’re not sure why.

Open the Scene section. The Master Scene Inventory gives you a bird's-eye view of every scene in your manuscript. The Scene Purpose Tracker asks: What does this scene accomplish? What happens if I cut it? The Scene Entry/Exit Audit shows you where each scene begins and ends—and whether the entry hooks and the exit propels.

The planner doesn't leave room for guessing. It gives you specific, targeted questions to diagnose exactly what's not working.

I think you'll say the same thing I did: "I didn't know how much I needed this until I started using it."

Who is this for?

Not every product I make is for every writer and my goal is to match you with what's actually going to be useful to you—not to squeeze as many sales as I can.

So this might be for you if:

• You have a finished or in-progress manuscript and you don’t know what to do next.

• You just won NaNoWriMo and you don’t know what comes after.

• You’ve tried other planners and felt like something was still missing.

• You want a process, not a lecture.

• You're sick of unhelpful advice like "oh just do a reverse outline!"

• You want the guidance of a professional editorial project manager without the professional editor price tag.

One more thing (and why I'm telling you)

The Revision Planner for Writers stands alone. You don't need anything else to use it. But if you find yourself wanting to go deeper—a full workbook on character voice, a deep dive on scene tension, a complete system for self-editing—the planner links out to those resources. On a handful of pages throughout, you'll see an icon like this:

That icon will take you to a page at the back of the planner that links out to additional resources available from The Editor's Desk on this topic. Don't care to see the resources? No problem—just ignore the icon.

But if you do buy a smaller product first (a worksheet, a chapter, a mini workbook) and later decide you want the full system, you'll find a coupon inside that you can use toward the full workbook or bundle to get a discount of exactly what you paid for the smaller piece. There's no penalty for starting small. No buyer's remorse if you tried a bite-sized piece and then decided to upgrade.

Before I go

I’m not asking you to buy anything. But I do want to ask you one question:

If you had a single tool that could organize your entire revision process—from plot hole to final polish—would that make your book better?

If the answer is yes, you know where to find me.

This journal is available in my shop. It's compatible with Goodnotes and Notability and comes with a pre-cropped sticker sheet that coordinates beautifully with the planner.

If the answer is no, this wouldn't help you—good. I don't want you to buy something from me that you don't need. But watch this space because I have a lot more tools for serious writers in the pipeline.

I'm working on a few right now. A witchy planner for creative people; a journal to help conquer writer's block; and a series bible journal to keep track of all those details you need when you're writing a trilogy of quadrilogies like some of us who just never want to be done writing.

—Catherine

P.S. The sunburst year view—12 linked months radiating from a single circle—is my favorite page in the planner. I draw it in all my bullet journals and turning it into an interactive page was the best part of making this. Tap any month and jump straight to your planning spread. It’s beautiful and useful.