Editorial calendar spreadsheet
A twelve-week planning sheet with columns that keep ideas, drafts and sponsors from colliding.
An editorial calendar is less about planning far ahead and more about seeing collisions early: two heavy issues in a row, a sponsor booked into a holiday week, a series that stalls halfway.
Columns
- Send date — one row per issue, twelve weeks ahead.
- Working title — rough is fine.
- Main piece — the one thing the issue exists to deliver.
- Status — idea, outlined, drafted, edited, scheduled.
- Sponsor — name and whether copy has arrived.
- Links to library — which resources this issue can point to.
- Notes — holidays, travel, anything that will make the week harder.
How to use it
- Every Friday, move each row's status forward honestly.
- Keep at least two rows at "drafted" or later. That is your buffer.
- When a row has sat at "idea" for three weeks, delete it or swap it with something you want to write.
Colour coding (optional)
Shade sponsored issues in one colour and series in another. At a glance you can see whether the next month is balanced.
A note on ambition
Plan twelve weeks; commit to four. The calendar exists to protect your sending day, not to fill every slot with your best idea.
