Organization is Paramount

Readers see only the words on the printed page or screen. They have no idea of all the words that pile up to get those particular words in front of them. While some people think writers pull their ideas and words only out of their heads, most writing requires research—and lots of it—as well as draft upon draft. All this research and drafts must be kept in order to keep any writer from going insane.

To be a success as a writer, you have to be organized. Have you ever been in someone’s office and all the desks are buried in piles of paper? While those who work in that office most likely know what’s what, any new employee or some hired to take over while another is out sick may find the whole mess daunting. Without organization, production slows or even worse ceases.

When computers first came on the scene, manufacturers said they would lead to a paperless society. Obviously, they didn’t mean writers. In fact, that really hasn’t happened and probably never will. There are some things that just can’t be digitized.

If you haven’t done so already, you need to get organized. Many writers wait until a slow period to do this, but somehow that slow period never seems to materialize, so they just keep piling new material on top of old. Sooner or later, it’s almost impossible to find anything.

Back in the day—whenever that was—people used filing cabinets. But unless you have endless space, they’re only a temporary solution, good for newer material at best. So where do you put your archives. Big businesses have large warehouses in which they store their archive files. Or the hire another company whose business is storage to do that for them. Oh, but you say that today most of your files are electronic and you can use the Cloud. That’s all fine and dandy for computer files, but you can’t store any paper on the Cloud.

Manila folders have long been the basis for a business’s filing system. They worked back in the day and they work today. You should create a file folder for every writing project. For those projects that are big, like books, you’ll need multiple file folders and eventually a file box to store them in.

When writing a book, for example, you should create a separate file folder for each chapter, plus extra ones for appendices and the general concept and outline. You could place all your research notes for each chapter in the chapter’s folder or you could use additional folders to store them.In the end, you’ll amass a good amount of material, some of which you may want to use again.

Each article and book chapter should also have corresponding computer files—several for research, one for the rough draft, and successive additional ones for revisions and rewrites, each numbered in succeeding order.

In addition to all your writing files, you may also have a well-organized library of several hundred books. While you may use most of these for reference in researching your work. But you may also keep books you’ve read and might read again.

Go to any office supply store or search them online and you’ll discover a myriad of items designed to help you get organized. Stackable trays, for instance, look like they would be good to get clutter off your desk. But in fact they can produce more clutter. While you may plan to use them for sorting current material, they tend to get clogged up, so you’ll need to periodically  clean them out.

It’s also a good idea to keep everything you use most often closest to your desk. This can be article folders, notes, a scheduling book, etc. You may also want to keep a calendar with automatic reminder alerts on your computer. Paper calendars can’t remind you of a deadline or appointment with a sound or by flashing on a screen. If you use a smartphone, you can even set up the reminders in your phone.

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