Deep in my heart, I know an organized person is a productive person. Putting things down instead of putting them away leads to chaos. Leaving notes scattered around the computer leads to frantic searches for that brilliant idea on character development, or the crucial next plot point that points the way to the perfect ending.
Sometimes I think I am single-handedly supporting the self-help industry with all my organizational aids. I have notebooks, file cards and file card boxes, manila folders, color-coded folders, three-ring binders – in short, all the tools I need to keep my story ideas at my fingertips.
Since this is the twenty-first century, there is also the computer to organize. I have directories, subdirectories, special files with instructions on how to organize the directories and subdirectories – in short, all the tools I need to keep my stories edited, updated and ready for submission.
So, why are my notes not in order? Perhaps because my binders, which are color-coded, do not correspond to my color-coded folders, and most of them aren’t labeled (and by “them” I mean both the notebooks and the folders). My file cards are stacked under the platform that raises my laptop screen to ergonomic height, and the file card box – which is empty – supports a stack of old to-do lists and mail-order catalogs that I might order from some day.
And what is my current novel filed under on my computer? Writings/untitled.
Still, in my heart, I believe an organized person is a productive person. And if you want to make your fortune, come up with a new system that promises instant tidiness. There are people like me out there, willing to be convinced that this time the system will work.
Lani, hunting for sticky notes sounds like more fun than viewing my organized file drawers and detailed computer file lists.
I couldn’t exactly call it fun – more “interesting” in that ancient curse fashion (“may you live in interesting times”).