I was just catching up on some fun client blog reading, when I came across this post by Lynne Kelly on her blog Making Stuff Up and Writing It Down.
If you have trouble with organization in this crazy ride we call life, Lynne offers some sage advice. She also links to some other posts that can be helpful.
The thing is, most people need some type of system, right? I think it's safe to say that a majority of writers have another job of some kind to make enough money to, ya know, live. So writing is a second job. Add family, friends, hobbies, etc...and that's a lot to keep track of!
For me (granted, I'm not a writer, but I work with writers so I've usually got projects on the brain), I have many, many lists. I have a list for every day of the week. Then I have a To Do Soon list (for things that don't need to be done on a specific day, but should be done in the next few weeks), a To Do Later list (for those lower priority things that I want to look into/get done, but don't need to be done in the next month), and one separate list I have is for contracts alone. I wouldn't be able to keep track of what stage each contract is at without it. Also, if I'm working on a particularly big project, I'll make a list just for that. I check all of these lists every day to make sure there's not something I'm missing.
And of course I have my submission lists that I check weekly.
Finally, I use my work calendar. I have lists on there, too, of things I need to follow up on by a specific date. And my calendar emails me reminders the day before because he is awesome (yes, I've decided that my calendar is a dude).
It sounds like a lot, but once the system is in place, it's just a matter of adding and deleting things daily since all of this is on my computer. And I do this so I don't miss something vital. Even with all of these lists, every once in awhile things slip through the cracks. But not often--thank goodness!
So what's your secret?? How do YOU keep track of it all?
