Sunday, February 12, 2012

Welcome to The Organized Writer

When I started writing in my teens, it was for fun. I loved just putting ideas down on paper, but knew nothing about characterization or plotting. I recognized different points of view, but couldn't define them. I stopped writing in college because I didn't have time. (A mistake I now realize.)

After I had children, the writing was calling me again. So I went back to writing, but this time, seriously. I joined a local writer's group, and attended conferences and took correspondence classes for writing. I was on my way to being published!

As I wrote more, I had more projects, more research books, and more copies of articles. Computers were basically for word processing. Nothing more. So I had to keep all this material organized, in case I needed to find it again some day. I bought binders, and recorded and stored everything.

Then life changed. The internet came along, I no longer had time for writing, and I had to go back to work, with a new career. After much consideration, I hung out my shingle as a Professional Organizer. It was a natural choice for me, since I had been organized my whole life. The challenge was being able to transfer my skills to others.

Fast forward a few years, and I realized that with my past skills of writing and organizing my own projects, I could help other writers do the same. Thus, The Organized Writer was born. First with hands on work, and now in a blog.

I have helped writers organize their office space, enter contests, create forms for recording tasks and coordinate blog tours. I realized I loved this aspect of my business.

And so, here I am, writing a blog about how I can help other writers be organized. This blog will give advice on keeping track of submissions, keeping track of research, time management, and more.

I welcome comments, suggestions for topics, questions and visits from writers. I can't wait to start this new journey with you!

3 comments:

  1. Welcome! Looking forward to your posts. And here's something I'd suggest as a topic: How can I best organize my electronic files surrounding a manuscript? Versions, partial scenes, and all those pesky things!

    ReplyDelete
  2. Great question, Blythe! I will address this topic over the next few days.

    ReplyDelete