Being organized

One of the most important things to do in any endeavor is to be organized. It keeps you from going down blind alleys or repeating something you have already done.

One of the things I learned from one of the writers in my critique group was how to better organize elements of my stories in a binder. Mostly I kept things here and there, which make it particularly difficult when I had to come up with the name for a new character.

Often I would have a hard time remembering what names I had used and for whom. Keeping all that imformation together means I don't have to remember all the names since they will all be collected in one place, and I can see if I am using two names that are similar or two names that start with the same initial, something my writer-friend suggested I avoid.

When I moved my office from the first floor to the second floor a couple of months ago, one of the things I should have finished was reorganizing my space. I had to strip down everthing downstairs and bring it upstairs. I didn't do that, however.

So I spent the better part of yesterday afternoon cleaning up downstairs and throwing away things I should never have kept. But I also found useful bits of information for my current novel and a future.

Because I wasn't as organized as I should have been, I didn't realize until this afternoon that a freelance assignment I assumed was due at the end of the first week of August was actually due yesterday, July 30. So I have spent this afternoon catching up.

It's a very good thing I am a good writer.

So I plan to complete the reorganization of my space by next week, keep one binder with all the revelant information on my novels, and keep a better calendar for deadlines. That should help keep me in better shape for completing things on dead, which I generally do anyway.

Just a little tip.

Thanks for reading and Write on.