Spring Cleaning for the Writer

I’m married to an engineer. On our honeymoon, I borrowed his nail clippers, dropping it back into his toiletries bag when I was done. He approached me later, asking if I would please put his things back where I found them after I borrowed them. “I did,” I said. “No, I always keep that in the upper right hand corner of the bag,” he explained. In an instant, I realized there were night and day differences in how we keep our stuff.

The funny thing is we both have organizational challenges. While he may be more precise about how he keeps his things, he has hoarder tendencies. I’m much less stringent about exact locations where I store things. (I once misplaced a “how to get organized” book I borrowed from the library.) What I’ve got going for me is I keep less stuff. Whether you’re a structured hoarder or a disordered minimalist, most anyone can improve their efficiency by becoming more organized.

Spring cleaning is the perfect time to re-work your writer organization systems and make sure you're using them to their full potential. Two systems I use are a writer’s “bible” for the current manuscript I’m working on, and index cards for ideas I have that may become future projects.

My writer’s “bible” is a notebook where I record facts about all the characters and locales in my book. I do it to prevent inconsistencies. For example, if I report my main character is an only child in chapter one, it wouldn’t be good for her brother to come home from college in chapter five. Spring is a great time to re-read your manuscript and writer’s “bible” to ensure everything has been recorded in the “bible” and that there are no inconsistencies. This is especially relevant if you are writing a series, since the same characters and locations are likely to reappear in future books.

A second helpful tool is to use index cards to keep track of future story ideas. I adopted this organization system last year after hearing children’s writer Patrick Jennings, http://www.patrickjennings.com/about.shtml, speak at a writer’s conference. He explained how he runs around with a pack of index cards--the kind bound by a spiral with perforations on each card. He jots down ideas about the various projects he has in his head whenever and wherever they come to him. Later, when he gets home, he tears the cards out and files them. His filing system consists of groups of index cards. The more cards the closer he is to starting a project. He said when he first gets an idea he groups the cards together in a rubber band. When it gets too thick to be manageable he uses an accordion file, when that fills up he transfers the cards to a box. He says a box full of index cards about an idea is enough for him to start a book. I started using the system about a year ago, and it’s time a few of my piles upgrade from rubber band bundles to accordion files, and in one case from an accordion file to a box.

I hope you find these tips helpful. Happy organizing!