A Writer’s Guide to Getting Organized

As a writer, you have plenty to think about: deadlines, grammar accuracies, sources, interviews and whether the kerning looks weird. Staying organized means you can feel in control of your workload and become a more productive, happier writer.

Here are tips to get everything in order.

Manage Your Time

Scheduling deadlines and time-tracking is important to staying on top of a writer’s workload. Using calendars – digital or otherwise – is essential to log deadlines and meetings. When it comes to projects, time-tracking is a great way to know exactly how much time you spent on each project.

Plan Effectively

Use a tool to effectively plan your writing work before you start writing.

Whether your tool of choice is good old-fashioned pen and paper, personalized TextExpander template snippets or something more heavy duty, like OmniGraffle, planning your writing before you begin will guide your work and make the process more enjoyable.

Plan for Quality

An organized workflow will lead to quality output.

Decide what writing process works best for you. For example, you might like to plan, write, edit and re-edit the following day. Perhaps you like to have someone else read through your work before you publish. Your workflow should include whatever helps you produce the best work in the most time-efficient way.

Fly Through Email

Are you a busy journalist responding to sources? An academic contacting field professionals? Perhaps a music critic liaising with bands?

Whatever your speciality, email can become a time-suck without careful management. Check out these tips to manage your inbox with a reply system – and use all that extra time to get back to writing!

Your Physical Space

Tidy desks can increase productivity, reduce stress and improve morale. Tidy up, throw out anything you don’t need and enjoy a space you feel inspired in.

Review and Rejig

Not all systems are perfect the first time around. In fact, tweaking helps you learn what feels best to you. Notice what works for you and adapt as you go along.

Getting Organized

What do you do to stay organized? Let us know on our Facebook group.