Organizational Gruntwork

I've been making some shifts in my life in order to give myself more time to focus on what I really want to do (ie. write and be published) and in doing so I stumbled across a veritible trove of loose-leaf notes, notebooks I've begun for certain purposes then later abandoned and even binders with just one noted sheet of paper inside. In short, a slew of attempted organization that spun out of control and turned into chaos. Organized? Yes. But chaos nonetheless.

Naturally it was time to reassess how I'm doing things.

I write today to share my thoughts on this process. Obviously not everyone operates the same way, but organizing your personal M.O. is imperative. I realized over the course of the past couple weeks that it's also a good idea to re-evaluate whether what you're doing is the most effective method for you. When I was young I wrote everything on paper, so having a binder for story ideas was a logical. Later in life for the longest time and for reasons outside my own control, I didn't have a computer or internet access at home *gasp!* So I relied on the internet connection at my local library and notebooks to jot down useful information for later reference.

Since then I've moved up in the world, so to speak. I have my own internet connection and laptop. And while notebooks still serve a purpose in giving me the ability to write what I need to when I'm away from home, the stacks of them overtaking my workspace had become obsolete and was making me a little crazy. All those lovely story ideas now reside neatly in files on my laptop and are backed up on my handy-dandy flash drive. My agent list (yes, I actually hand-wrote one in those by-gone internetless days) are much better organized in an excel spreadsheet. Heck, I can even color-code things this way and change them as needed! Instead of many notebooks to track progress and such, I have things neatly in one convenience place. (More on that later)

My purging also unearthed a notebook in which I wrote a lot of useful information regarding general publishing rules and ettiquette. Stuff that I now look upon as second-nature but at the time I just didn't know. I don't need to keep that notebook anymore either. Not because the information isn't useful. I just I no longer need the information. I also realized it would be far more productive to share the things I learned with others who might be searching for those answers, than to stop at tossing out the notebook. So if you're a fledgeling writer learning the ropes as I once was, be on the lookout for this "Publishing 101" series on my resources page. Not only does this declutter my physical space, it also shares the weath. Double win!

Until then, keep writing and stay organized!