Happy New Year! Do You Make New Year's Resolutions? Ideas for Writers.

Happy New Year! Do you make New Year’s Resolutions? A brand new year always a good time to look at your goals and the things you want to do in the upcoming year.

Here are some ideas to add to your list.

1. Read more. Sign up for GoodRead’s Reading Challenge. This helps me track what I’m reading throughout the year. It also reminds me to post a review.

2. Be kind. Look for ways to share with others. It may be a small gesture, but it means something to someone else, especially during these crazy times.

3. File and Shred. Clean up the piles of papers, receipts, and other stuff that accumulates on your desk. Get rid of what you don’t need. Put what you do need in its place. This is a good time to pull all of your tax files togehter.

4. Clean up your eFiles. Go through your pictures and files. Make sure that you’re backing up important things. Organize your electronic files.

5. Update Your Website. Look at your website and refresh outdated items.

6. Grow Your Following. Commit to spending some amount of time each week to your key social media platforms. Make sure that you are sharing, commenting, and building your audience.

7. Visit your Social Media Bios. Make sure that all of your author photos and social media bios are current.

8. Learn Something New. Find a way to learn how to do something new. This is going to be at the top of my 2021 list.

9. Protect Yourself. Make sure that you’re backing up your important files regularly. Make sure that you have security software on your computer and that your patches are current. And don’t click on links that you don’t know where they came from.

10. Look for Ways to Connect. During this crazy time, make sure that you’re talking, visiting, and sharing with others. Find a group and try to participate regularly. If you can’t find a group, create one.

11. Up and Out. Clean out your closets and junk drawers. If you haven’t used stuff in two years, it can probably go. Look for local charities that take donations of your old items.

12. Just Do It. Do that thing that has been on your task list forever.

My Great Big Spreadsheet of Ideas - Tips for Writers

I get ideas everywhere. A funny story, a cool name, an interesting place to hide a body, a movie to watch, or a book to read…I had little pieces of paper and Post-it notes everywhere, and it was difficult to keep all the information in one place. I finally consolidated them into a spreadsheet. One column defines what it is (e.g. story idea, cool name, fun location, etc.) Then I have a short description or a link to remind me of what it was or who told me about it. If I see an interesting news article, I save it. Who knows, it may be good material later. By tagging each entry, I can sort it in multiple ways to see what I’m looking for.

When I get ready to start a story or novel, I cruise through my spreadsheet. I also mark the entry if I’ve used it before. What started out as twenty notes is now a spreadsheet with hundreds of lines. I have interesting poisons, funny quotes, descriptions of interesting people, or whatever catches my attention that I want to remember. My desk is much neater now, too. There aren’t twenty Post-its stuck to it and my monitor.

I have a big, giant promotional spreadsheet, too. It has a tab for every kind of promotion or marketing effort that I’ve done in the past. I collect contacts and recommendations and add them to the tab. Then, when I’m ready to start planning a book launch, I have a starting point. I have tabs for everything from blogs and podcasts to Facebook parties and reviewers.

I had to get organized. My writing time is limited, and I couldn’t spend it searching for things I wrote somewhere.

How do you organize your ideas or bits of information?

Me and My Post-it Notes

I love office supplies. I get excited every summer when the school supplies come out. And besides gel pens, sticky notes are probably my favorite. I use Post-it notes for everything. I’m an 80s girl, and that’s when my addiction to these sticky notes started. I love the neon-colored ones. The ones with little sayings are fun, too.

The adhesive was invented by Spencer Silver in 1968 at 3M, and the actual notes were invented by Arthur Fry in 1974 because he needed bookmarks for his hymnal at choir practice. When he used scraps of paper, they would fall out of the book. He needed something to stick to the page, but not damage the paper. He knew of Silver’s invention and tried it on some of the scrap paper in the lab. (Legend has it that the original Post-its were yellow because that was the color of the lab’s scrap paper.)

Here are my favorite uses. What would you add to my list?

• A handy bookmark

• Sticky tabs for reports and documents that need review/signature

• For plotting mysteries - You can move them around on a wall or white board

• For jotting notes (duh!) - I have them stuck to my monitor, laptop, desk, and refrigerator - I even stick them to the dashboard of my car when I really need to remember something. (My purse is always full of balled up notes/lists.)

• Keeping character traits organized when I’m writing

• I like the Post-it flipcharts when I’m brainstorming or facilitating meetings

• Lists (usually for shopping, but they could be honey-do lists)

• I daisy chain them together when stuff is related and I need more space to write

• Tally sheets to keep a running total of my WIP’s word count

• I mark issues or plot holes in my writing with them. It reminds me to tie up loose ends.

• Marking stopping points in editing/writing projects - It helps me pick up where I left off

An End of the Year Checklist for Writers

It’s the end of the year again, and I’m not quite sure how that happened. I love this time of year with the holidays and activities, but I always feel I’m running 100 mph to keep up.

Here’s my end of year checklist I put together to keep up with my writing life.

• Make sure you have copies of all receipts and tax documents. It’ll make tax season easier.

• Go through all of your pictures from the past year and archive the old ones. I use an external hard drive for storage and to remove the clutter from my phone, PC, and tablet.

• Make sure that you back up all of your important files regularly. Don’t accidentally lose your work. It will make you cry.

• Most of my writing groups’ dues are due in December. I go ahead and pay them to make sure I’m current for next year. (Save all receipts.)

• Look at your goals for the past year. Did you have successes? Make your list for the new year.

• I go through all my TBR (To Be Read) piles. I have a book shelf in my office, a pile on my nightstand, and one in the living room. I end up with a lot of books. What I don’t plan to keep, I share with my local libraries.

• Clean off your desk. It’s a magnet for clutter and things you don’t need.

• Get your calendar for 2020 organized.

• Clean off your computer. Archive any old files that you don’t need.

• Celebrate your successes, wins, and accomplishments from the past year.

Spring Cleaning! Tips for Authors

We’re having our upstairs painted this week, and we spent a lot of time moving things, pulling down pictures, and getting rid of stuff we don’t use any more. Since it’s that time of year, we may need to do some spring cleaning or purging in our offices and files. Here are some places to start…

1. Clean your work space on your desk. I found so much junk that was no longer needed (and about 50 sticky notes that were outdated).

2. Look at your bookcases. I cleaned out two shelves of old style guides and dictionaries. I sent a bunch of writing prompt books to the Friends of the Library.

3. Make sure that you’re backing up your files regularly. Your work is too valuable to lose.

4. Go through your graphics, pictures, and videos. Archive or delete what’s no longer needed. These take up a lot of storage space.

5. Remove duplicate files.

6. Go through your email contacts and purge any you don’t need.

7. Look through your favorites on your web browser and delete outdated ones or broken links.

8. Read through your author biography and update it.

9. Then check your website and social media sites. Update your photo and biography.

Ideas - How to Keep Them Organized!

I have way more ideas for stories and characters than I can use at any one time. I used to jot them down on paper or sticky notes. I’d clip articles out of newspapers and magazines, so I had folders of ideas. But it became unruly quickly. Here’s how I keep it all organized and usable.

Electronic Links and Pictures: If it’s a picture, web page, or blog post, I have Pinterest boards to organize ideas. For example, I was researching vintage trailers and tiny houses for a WIP, so I built a Pinterest boards to keep my information in one place.

Single Spreadsheet: I finally created a single spreadsheet for all of the hundreds of sticky notes that were cluttering up my life. I created a column to tag each idea (e.g. character name, dialogue sample, story idea, etc.). That allows me to sort by the category when I’m looking for something specific. I also add notes if I’ve used the idea. I may still jot things on sticky notes or paper, but they now get transferred to the spreadsheet.

Web Favorites: If you mark favorites in your browser for websites, you may want to export it from time to time to ensure that you have a backup in case of a crash or device failure. (In Internet Explorer, locate your “Add to Favorites” button. Click the down arrow and select Import and Export. Follow the screens to export your favorites to a file.)

Character and Place Name Table: I also build a Word table for each series I write. Each book gets a column. I put basic information about each character and location. I track which books these appear in. When I’m done, I sort my list alphabetically, so I can make sure that I’m not reusing names or naming characters with similar names. This helps me keep the character details consistent in each book.

What other ideas would you add?

Getting it Together - Organizational Tips for Writers

How do you keep your writing projects organized? When you don't tame the details, chaos takes over (and I end up with way too many sticky notes stuck to my desk).

Writing/Book Details

1. I keep a Word table for each series I write. The first column contains all the characters and locations. Then the other columns represent books in the series. This helps me keep the details about each organized. I can also see if I overuse character names. And I can track which books characters appear in.

2. I create a Word document with blurb, synopsis, book links, and author biography for each book or anthology that I'm a part of. I make sure my website, press kit, and social media sites are updated with the new information. This document becomes my reference when someone wants the ISBN, number of pages, etc. 

3. I also keep a spreadsheet of ideas (e.g. character names, crimes, or cool locations). I can sort by the columns. And I know I have one place to go when I want to look up something. (Before, there were hundreds of sticky notes.)

Emails and Contacts

1. I create a subfolder in my email software for events, promotion, and business. I keep all critical emails in these folders for reference. I also make sure that receipts go immediately to the tax folder.

2. When I get someone's contact information, I write down when and where I met them. I try to transfer phone or business card contacts to my email contact list when I get them. 

3. Back up your email and phone contacts regularly. I'd be lost if I couldn't access them.

Social Media

1. My social media feeds are clogged with all kinds of posts, and I don't always see what I'm interested in. I make friend lists in Facebook and lists in Twitter. This help me to see a customized newsfeed of what I'm looking for.

Prizes and Book Swag

1. I have a section in my storage area for give-aways and swag. You never know when you need a prize or a gift. I can put together a nice swag bag in a matter of minutes.

2. I have notecards with my book covers on one side. I use these when I write thank you notes.

3. I keep a bag packed with pens, bookmarks, and books. It's all ready. I just need to grab it for the next event.

What else would you add to my list?