Pomodoros and planning

[marycrawford]

astolat posted about the Pomodoro method, which I've also been using for a while now. Basically: concentrate on work for 25 minutes, take a break for 5 minutes, repeat. It works!

I'm using Focus Booster for Windows, which is just a little free timer that counts down the minutes for you and dings when you're done. I also use Workrave to deal with RSI, so I still take microbreaks in between.

Now here's a related question: what software or apps can I use to plan stuff better?

I don't know what terms to use for googling - 'open source planning software' gets me stuff designed for entire teams and whatnot, but I would like something a little simpler that's just for me.

What I'm looking for:

• Software that's preferably free, preferably open source, but if it's awesome and paid I will shell out for it.
• Works on Windows XP (which they will pry from my cold, dead hands, or at least I will wait until Microsoft sees fit to repent from their Windows 8 sins before buying anything else.)
• Something that lets me keep track of hours worked, weekly and monthly deadlines, maybe a daily popup to remind me of my goals for the day?
• Something geared toward fiction and wordcounts would be awesome, but probably not necessary.
• Something that keeps my data local and not in the cloud, if possible.

I'd appreciate any tips you have!