Juiced On Writing

Available for $14.95, The Organized Writer is an e-book supported by supplementary free ebooks, calendars and articles, plus a weekly newsletter from www.organizedwriter.com website. The e-book, written by Julie Hood promises a simple 30 day plan to get you, as a writer, more organized and writing productively this year.

Can it? I downloaded The Organized Writer after being impressed by some ideas Julie Hood provided for organisation through an interview at the latest edition of WOW – Women on Writing. After reading through The Organized Writer, I took some of the ideas and combined them with my own, and didn’t regret my purchase.

The Organized Writer’s Six Rules

Here are the six rules of every organized writer….

1.  Work with Yourself, Not Against Yourself
Understand your personality and what works for you.  Do what feels right and what appeals to you—not what seems to “be organized.”

2. Focus and Pay Attention
When possible, do one thing at a time. Do not let your mind wander. Picture the goal in your mind, and focus on it.

3. Invest Your Time
Pay attention to how you spend your time. Saving just 20 minutes each day gives you an extra 120 hours each year. Strive to improve the time it takes to complete a project. Be willing to invest a block of time if it will save you hours of frustration later.

4. Create Habits
You can create a new habit (or lose a bad habit!) in 21 days. For only three weeks of effort, you can create a lifetime of  good habits.

5.  Use the Right Tools
Make sure you have the right tools handy when you need them.

6.  Work Forward
Organize for your work ahead.  Don’t organize what’s already finished. You want to save time by going forward not just reorganize what you already have.

The Organized Writer Review

The Organized Writer is broken up into 30 days worth of work-book tasks, with separate sections towards topics such as recognising your organizing personality and what might work for you, to organizing your workspace, then your online life, and your writing projects.

Starting off with a survey, the e-book itself led me to discover that -  like many people – I suffer (or have room for improvement, in more positive speak) from a combination of being a packrack / perfectionist / procastinator in some of my organisation methods. Within the book, methods for both the computer-based versus paper-based writer are given, making me happy because I am predominantly electronic if I can help it. But there is plenty for those who insist on files and folders in real world terms also.

Ideas are based in the real world also – the planner system templates (see below) can be slotted into current filofax type planners you may already be using, or can completely build your own writer’s planner system. For deskspace, Julie Hood suggests using filing cabinets and a door if you don’t have a proper desk at this time. The e-book recognises that writing is a professional business, with professional needs supported by printable templates – but that not all of us have access to our own workspaces or even huge swathes of spare time in which to write in.

Importantly, the author and e-book discuss methods and ideas which aren’t forced upon you. It is recognised that everyone is different in their own organisational likes and dislikes, and in The Organized Writer we are simply given tools which we can pick and choose from to form our own working system. This philosophy is brought through the entire e-book, perhaps pinpointed in Rule No. 6 above – Work Forward. Here, the author proposes that we don’t expend wasted energy trying to re-organise what we’ve already done, but move forward small step by small step and day by day into more efficient systems. She also emphasises that we should not be beating ourselves up over not being properly organised beforehand, or even afterwards – that the ideas included in The Organized Writer and supporting newsletters and the website, can be picked up at any time.

This e-book, on Day 2, introduces the filing system, which she calls a “Master List” – of categories, and sub-categories which you must choose for yourself, and simplify as much as possible. This list of filing categories – for research, how-to’s , topic papers, and your writing project management system. The Master List of main categories, sub-catergories and topics can be introduced both into a paper-based system and onto your computer. The Master List introduction is available outside of the e-book. You will find the full Day 2 text on the website at http://www.organizedwriter.com/master.htm.

I was slightly confused by this section – not towards creating a list of main categories and sub-categories for filing into, but in the request to decide on only seven main categories. The e-book gives you a list of some you might choose (from Art to Women’s) for topical main categories. However, it then also provides a list of seven other main categories (including a generic “Other” category to one for “Manuscripts” and “Cheat Sheets”) which every writer should have, making a total of fourteen? I wasn’t sure.

Day 3 introduces the Sidetracked Writer’s Planner, with how-to’s for assembling an actual planner in three-ring binder form, and templates to print out to insert. Note: the Sidetracked Writer’s Planner is available in a separate and free e-book form from the website also, if you sign-up for the weekly tips emails.

There are plenty of templates within both the free Sidetracked Writer’s Planner e-book and The Organized Writer e-book – although the later has some additional templates for you, including more on the accounting side of things.

I don’t use a filofax or other planner like that – I’ve previously found myself to be gungho in any new year to buy and play with such things, only to forget to keep them updated once February comes around. However many of the templates provided are simple spreadsheets for tracking things like manuscript submissions etc. It would perhaps help someone like me if these were provided in electronic separate form as excel spreadsheets or similar, but for project managing my writing, I’m personally inclined to seek out electronic software or create something technical through Excel for myself anyway.

Day 4 provides another survey to pinpoint what organisation approaches work with you – linking each question to a section within the e-book if you need further ideas and advice on that particular area.

At this point I should note that the e-book does have an American standpoint, especially around the subject of taxes, although this subject is something that every freelance writer with tax and expense claims should recognise no matter what country they live in.

Section 2 introduces the “Time Map” – an hourly check of your days to work out where your time is spent, and highlight where writing can perhaps be introduced. This is, again, a simple method, but one I would recommend everyone take a look at. As a writer, mother, part-time worker, domestic cleaning engineer, child entertainer and chauffeur, and dog walker (amongst other roles), my own time is often strapped (or so I think) towards finding time to write on some days. I used the word “finding” loosely, because as the Time Map shows – it’s a matter sometimes to “make” that time, but the map certainly found me some I was oblivous to also.

The Organized Writer then provides quite a few different time management techniques, from the electronic to the physical, index cards, to email reminders, task assignments, to the DRAW method (Declutter – Read – Assess – Write). Many of these ideas are excellent if you need a more tightened approach to your own activity management to get work done.

Not discussed in the e-book itself is another concept which the author introduces in the interview published in WOW’s Edition 26 on Time. Here’s a quote from Julie Hood towards assessing and chunking activities for use when you do find you suddenly have a few minutes of spare time -

Another suggestion is to think about how you can chunk your writing activities into smaller and smaller pieces that only take short amounts of time. While we would all love to have big blocks of writing time, those can be hard to find. Make yourself a 15-minute list, a 30-minute list, and an hour list. On each list write what you could accomplish in that amount of time. For example, some of the things on my 15-minute list are: pick a title, find a market, and read my blog reader.

Type these lists so you have them handy whenever you get a free moment.

I love this approach. In my own day I often find myself with twenty minutes spare waiting to go to work, or school,having rushed to prepare myself. It’s not enough time to start or continue with a major writing project, but is often wasted while I just wait around. Finding an hour or two for writing is easy – I schedule that into my diary, booking an appointment with myself for my writing (this is an approach talked about within the e-book also). But using those wasted fifteen minutes of waiting time by preparing with a list of activities I could do in that period is a simple but effective technique I hadn’t thought about until now. There are indeed many tasks such as reading my own blog reader which often get shunted away until they become a massive clean-up exercise at the end of the week – which is not only disheartening, but eats into my dedicated writing time. Until now, that is.

The Organized Writer e-book goes on to deal with de-cluttering and organizing your workspace, desk, filing etc, providing other templates to print out. There is then sections in the book giving links to websites for bookmarking favourites, researching, or creating your own website.

These sections in the e-book perhaps need some updating. The filing tab template goes up to the year of 2006, although there are spaces to print in your own labels for the three years after this and forwards. In the Online Workspace section, whilst discussing your computer’s hard drive there is reference to Windows ME, showing this datedness also. There is a section on communicating through the web which highlights emails and community forums, however probably now needs to emphasize the distraction affect (and positives) of today’s social networking sites such as Facebook, or Twitter for the writer.

A section on grabbing ideas supplies several templates for “idea grabbing” and indexing – into your master filing system. The e-book carries on giving tips on query letters and emails, submissions and manuscripts – suggesting we should create templates for these letters and emails in readiness for filling these in. After the tips on US taxes, there is a Skills section, and a Household Organization section.

There is a software product suggested in the submissions section called The Writer’s Database which I had never heard of before, but appears still available to download. There are plenty of other software packages out there now, for free, for tracking queries and submissions for writers also. Several are listed in my own free ebook, The Ultimate Guide for Writers, published this month.

The last two days of the 30 day daily task approach re-iterate reviewing your time, and assessing your own productivity. The book is rounded off simply on Day 30 with a thank-you for reading that far from the author. An appendix containing all the printable template forms rounds off the 212 page e-book.

The Organized Writer provides many workable ideas, combined with some how-tos on things such as writing query letters, or setting up a website. The e-book does nor preach or espouse a “do it like this, and you will be much more productive” approach. You can return to it, to apply new techniques as you find the need, and holistically, you can also seek out other organisation approaches which suit you in your external life, as long as you schedule the writing activities in, as a priority.

There is enough detail and copious templates in The Organized Writer to support a completely chaotic writer through the development of a working organisational approach – allowing him or her to finally get on with some productive writing.  But there is also enough flexibility for somebody like me, who already is quite organised in some aspects of her writing life, to add to, and simplify her own methods with better ideas – and ones from someone who understands the special requirements of the writing practice.

Am I more organised after reading The Organized Writer? Yes, put bluntly. I am about to use several of the ideas found within, including the Master List to categorisation, and I am assessing my time through a Time Map (which I’m taking out to a calendar and diary system). I am combining quite a few methods into my current approaches, then simplifying down. I am also creating a planner type system – only my one is in electronic form, with some additions in my Writer’s Notebook and a Writing Diary / Log system.

I would recommend The Organized Writer for all writers out there, no matter what your current approach, personality type or requirements. All can benefit from some of the ideas and methods discussed in this e-book.

LinkMe: The Organized Writer ebook -available from OrganizedWriter.com

Addendum:Jan 22 2009: Julie Hood has pointed out a couple of errors in this review which I have now corrected. You will find The Organized Writer ebook available through OrganizedWriter.com for $14.95.

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