Save Time. Get Organized to Write

“Information is a source of learning. But unless it is organized, processed, and available to the right people in a format for decision making, it is a burden, not a benefit.”—William Pollard

I decided to finish a book I’m writing. However, I felt frustrated. Years of writing compost—research, documentation, word pictures, illustrations, biblical word studies—plus every version of every WIP chapter and every critiquer’s document with their feedback littered one main folder titled with the book’s working title. Umpteen folders and miscellaneous documents filled the main folder. I even had another “main” folder containing everything recovered from a hard drive that crashed. I didn’t know if the recovered documents were duplicate files.

At one time I knew why I’d created every folder and oodles of documents and which chapter the information went with. But I no longer knew why I’d saved some of the information or what chapter I was thinking about when I saved the file. No longer a benefit, my writing compost pile was a burden.

I surveyed the confusing electronic folders and documents. When I wanted to write, I couldn’t find what I needed. Every time I started a new chapter, I opened and searched document after document trying to find the research or illustration that I knew I’d saved. When I wanted to polish a chapter, I wasn’t sure of the latest version of the WIP. I like to make the most of my precious writing hours. Trying to find specific information amidst the jumble of documents seemed like such a waste of time.

I’d completed a first draft for a new chapter and received critique feedback, except for a three or four paragraph illustration from Saint Augustine’s life that I still needed to write. To make sure the context from Augustine’s life worked, I wanted to re-read his book Confessions. When I discovered that I’d already downloaded Augustine’s book, but forgot Confessions sat in my unorganized folders, I decided it was time to bring order to disorder.

Before cranking out any more chapters, I ignored the urge to finish the Augustine chapter to spend a week organizing every file. I created folders for:

• “stuff.” I dumped every folder and document into the stuff file, and then systematically opened every file to decide which chapter that information went with. If I wasn’t sure where to dump a document, it stayed in the stuff folder until recapturing my original vision.
• the finished book proposal and pitch sheets. I placed the latest versions of the book proposal and pitch sheets in their respective folders.
• each chapter. I created a file for each chapter (Chapter 1: Working Title) and then dumped every document into the respective chapter folder, including critiques. For each unwritten chapter, I created a working document that includes the chapter summary, problem, solution, and value statements and placed it in its chapter folder.
• endorsements. I dumped all the endorsements already received, sample endorsement request letter, plus names and contact information for those I intend to ask.

What are some ways you organize your files, enabling you to find info fast while you write?

Take Five: A Dose of Writers Quotes

"Ambition is putting a ladder against the sky." ~ American proverb

"Only those who dare to fail greatly can ever achieve greatly." ~Robert F. Kennedy, U.S. Senator

"The secret of success in life is for a man to be ready for his opportunity when it comes." ~Benjamin Disraeli, British author and politician

"Obstacles are those frightful things you see when you take your eyes off your goals." Henry Ford, founder of Ford Motors

"If it were not for hope, the heart would break." ~Thomas Fuller, English churchman and historian

Storycrafter Retreat and NaNoWriMo Time!

I'm packing my suitcase with warm, comfy clothes, my laptop, and chocolate. (How can anyone expect me to write without chocolate?) I've got the nugget of an idea for a new novel, and I'm heading to the My Book Therapy Storycrafters Retreat Friday through Sunday in Minnesota, where it's already a bit chilly for this Texan. Storycrafters is a working writing retreat where participants will arrive with an idea and leave with a story plotted out -- just in time for NaNoWriMo!

Have you registered for NaNoWriMo yet? Don't wait! There's only a few days left in October.

After you register for NaNoWriMo, head over to the 2010 MBT NaNoWriMo Celebration where you'll get a ton of encouragement and be eligible for great prizes.




If you're not one of the lucky few registered for the Storycrafter Retreat, don't fret. Susan May Warren will teach a one-day Storycrafter Seminar on Saturday, November 13, 2010, near Denver, Colorado! Susie is packing in all the essentials of writing a novel, plus adding a hot, new class - Managing the Muddle (middle!) - into this intensive, one-day seminar. Hurry, the registration deadline ends November 1st!

What are you waiting for? There's never been a better time to write the story of your dreams!

~ Roxanne Sherwood

The Secret of Impressive Writing? Keep It Plain and Simple

"Contrary to what some people seem to believe, simple writing is not the product of simple minds. A simple, unpretentious style has both grace and power. By not calling attention to itself, it allows the reader to focus on the message"—Richard Lederer and Richards Dowis

Daniel M. Oppenheimer, an associate professor of psychology at Princeton University's Department of Psychology, won the 2006 Nobel Prize in Literature for his paper entitled Consequences of Erudite Vernacular Utilized Irrespective of Necessity: Problems with using long words needlessly. Aren't you glad he added the subtitle? I found the title of his paper laugh out loud hilarious. His paper argues that simple writing makes authors appear more intelligent than complex writing. His research found that those who stick with basic vocabulary and plain text are seen as less intelligent.


Writers love learning new vocabulary, but if it sends your reader to the dictionary in the middle of a tense chase scene, it defeats your purpose to engage your reader. Smart writers use words their readers understand.


Erudite Vernacular (a.k.a. gobblygook)
As writers, I thought you’d enjoy common clichés transformed into “erudite vernacular” (a.k.a. gobblygook.) In 1944, Texas Congressman Maury Maverick coined the word gobblygook in reference to prose of politicians that sounded like the senseless gobbling of turkeys. So if you enjoy using big words that others don’t know, see how many of these sayings you can figure out. Don’t peek at the answers below.


And if you’re tired of dumbed-down silly games at wedding and baby showers, give your guests this entertaining list to decipher. The person who figures out the most sayings wins a dictionary.

1. Pulchritude possesses solely cutaneous profundity.
2. A futile superfluity of culinary aid destroys nutritious liquids of osseous tissues made.
3. Never enumerate ere fractured are the shells of bipeds gallinaceous, lest suddenly thy calculations prove utterly fallacious.
4. Members of an avian species of identical plumage congregate.
5. Selecting on the part of mendicants must be interdicted.
6. Surveillance should precede saltation.
7. That prudent avis that matutinally deserts the cosiness of its abode will ensnare a vermiculate creature.
8. It is fruitless to become lachrymose over precipitously departed lacteal fluid. 

9. Freedom from incrustations of grime is contiguous to rectitude.
10. The stylus is of greater potency than the claymore.
11. It is fruitless to attempt to indoctrinate a superannuated canine with innovative maneuvers.
12. Eschew the implement of correction and vitiate the scion.
13. The temperature of the aqueous content of an unremittingly ogled saucepan does not reach 100 degrees Celsius.
14. All articles that coruscate with resplendence are not truly auriferous.
15. Where one detects visible vapors having their provenance in ignited carbonaceous material, one is certain also to find conflagration.
16. A plethora of individuals with expertise in culinary techniques vitiate the potable concoction produced by steeping certain osseous tissues and comestible herbs and vegetables.
17. Eleemosynary deeds have their incipience intramurally.
18. Male cadavers are incapable of yielding testimony.
19. Individuals who make their abode in vitreous edifices would be advised to refrain from catapulting petrous projectiles.
20. Neophyte's serendipity.
21. Exclusive dedication to necessitous chores without interludes of hedonistic diversion renders Jacques a hebetudinous fellow.
22. Missiles of ligneous or lithoidal consistency have the potential of fracturing my osteal structure, but appellations will eternally remain innocuous.
23. A revolving lithic conglomerate accumulates no congeries of a diminutive, verdant bryophitic plant.
24. Elementary sartorial techniques intitially applied, preclude repetitious actions to the squares of three.
25. Abstention from any aleatory undertakings precludes a potential escalation of a lucrative nature.
26. Persons of imbecilic mentality navigate in parameters which cherubic entities approach with trepidation.
27. A person presenting the ultimate cachinnation possesses thereby the optimal cachinnation.
28. Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific.
Fain do I fathom your nature specific.
Exaltedly set on the aether capacious
A reasonable facsimile of a gem carbonaceous. Scintillate, scintillate, asteroid minific.
Fain do I fathom your nature specific.
29. A research team proceeded towards the apex of a natural geologic protuberance, the purpose of their expedition being the procurement of a sample of fluid hydride of oxygen in a large vessel, the exact size of which was unspecified. One member of the team precipitously descended, sustaining severe damage to the upper cranial portion of his anatomical structure; subsequently the second member of the team performed a self rotational translation oriented in the same direction taken by the first team member.

Answers:

1. Beauty is only skin deep.
2. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
3. Don't count your chickens before they're hatched.
4. Birds of the feather flock together.
5. Beggars can't be choosers.
6. Look before you leap.
7. The early bird gets the worm.
8. Don't cry over spilt milk.
9. Cleanliness is next to godliness.
10. The pen is mightier than the sword.
11. You can't teach an old dog new tricks.
12. Spare the rod and spoil the child.
13. A watched pot never boils.
14. All that glitters is not gold.
15. Where there is smoke, there is fire.
16. Too many cooks spoil the broth.
17. Charity begins at home.
18. Dead men tell no tales.
19. People who live in glass houses should not throw stones.
20. Beginner's luck.
21. All work and no play makes Jack a very dull boy.
22. Sticks and stones may break my bones, but words will never hurt me.
23. A rolling stone gathers no moss.
24. A stitch in time saves nine.
25. Nothing ventured, nothing gained.
26. Fools rush in where angels fear to tread.
27. He who laughs last laughs best.
28. Twinkle, Twinkle Little Star in gobblygook.
29. Jack and Jill Went Up the Hill in doublespeak.

When All Else Fails . . .

We all have those days when we don't know what to write about. Call it writer's block. Call it laziness. Call it boredom with the whole antagonist-protagonist-plot process. Whatever it is, nothing's showing up in either your brain or your work in progress.

That's kind of how I felt about this blog post. Tired. The old "I've got nothing" feeling that hangs over you when a deadline's looming.

So I did what any desperate writer does--I started surfing the Internet. And I stumbled upon a fun Web site: Creative Writing Prompts, which was voted one of Writer's Digest's 101 Best Web Sites for Writers in 2006 and 2007.

Click on any one of the numbers 1 through 346 for a writing prompt or idea. Here's a couple of samples:
114: Write about a time your pampered yourself. (Hhhm--could I do some research instead of writing about this from memory?)
254: Why would an antiques dealer leave town?
311: Use the following words in your story: photographer, needle, dormitory. bicycle
340: Melinda Alcott and Dwayne Modderman meet in a bank. One of them is a loner. Describe how they meet.

You can also subscribe to CreativeSparks!, the e-zine of CreativeWritingPrompts.com and download a copy of the CreativeSparks! E-book (volume 1) for free.

Now if you'll excuse me, I've got to go figure out how Melinda and Dwayne meet. But first, which one of them is the loner?

Just Do It!

Fitness Guru Tony Horton is so dedicated that he plans his exercise schedule six months in advance. Horton, who has one of the most toned bodies for someone over 50, encourages others to plan their workouts. If you want to workout five times a week, he says, then plan which twenty days you'll workout this month. Then, commit to do it!



A friend revealed her goal-setting strategy. She places round stickers--the kind you find in Walmart for pricing garage-sale items--on her calendar with her writing goals. So, sit down with your calendar, spread sheet, day planner, whatever (I've been accused lately of over-using that word), and write down your incremental plan to reach your writing goals.

Then, just do it!

On Writing and Dentists

"I sometimes wonder when I read what even knowledgeable people say about writers and writing if they have any conception of what the life of a writer is like . . . . What they don't know might include: a visit to the dentist . . . ”

My plans for Monday were to complete a chapter to send to my critique group. An aching unbearable tooth made other plans for me. I called the dentist office. His receptionist said they’d work me in, so come to the office ASAP. I printed out the compost for the chapter, packed up my computer, and headed off to the dentist. 

     After analyzing the situation, the dentist could either give me antibiotics and I could come back on Thursday or he could work me in during the day. Since I came prepared, I opted to stay and let him work me in. Antibiotics that disagree with my intestinal tract didn’t appeal to me. And after looking at the infection pocket on the X-rays, I felt anxious for it to be out of my body.

     Well…three paragraphs, four thousand dollars (I don’t have health insurance), a lot of gas at party level and five hours later…I was more than exhausted. I wanted to go home, crawl in bed and suck my thumb. Except the dental assistant said, “Don’t suck on a straw”, so I figured the thumb was out also. The pain of my dentist’s reparative replaced the cause of the pain. 

     Today I return with Ibuprofen in hand to work on the chapter. Ahhhh…the life of a writer.