Someone once said ‘a cluttered office leads to a cluttered manuscript’, oh, that was me! I have a cluttered office, my file cabinet overflows and my books have a leaning tower of Pisa thing going on. So I took a monumental step forward and decided to organize my office. After a multitude of hours spent on the internet researching, these are the tips I came up with.

THE DESK

Okay your desk is normally ground zero for clutter and this is always your biggest hurdle. So clean it up! Go through your paper and anything that moves or is not needed throw it out! Less is more when it concerns your desk. Make sure you have the essentials laid out on your desk, pens, paper, pencil, rulers and notepads etc and then think boxes, boxes, boxes. Boxes are your friends so be nice to them. Collect small boxes and cut them into what ever shape you want, trim flaps and paint them an inspiring color and you have instant filing repositories. You can even label them: current, ingoing, outgoing, crits, manuscripts in progress or whatever appeals, just make sure they are small enough to fit in your boxes. You can stack them on top of each other, have them side by side or whatever works for your creative mind.

MANUSCRIPT AND NOTE ORGANISING

This section is all about those notes you write down or print out that always seem to breed and float around the room. Organize them! Use a different folder or notepad for each and every idea. These can be labeled with the idea or title of the work and can be stored in painted boxes under your desk. You can also do this for articles or sites that you have downloaded or even for your wish list of books to buy. This is an easy, cheap way to keep your stuff together instead of hunting for that elusive piece of paper. Labeling your binder and subdividing is a simple way to quickly and effectively get to the information you need. Categories you could use could be plot, character, research or miscellaneous. Whatever you use make it what YOU feel most comfortable with, there’s no limit to what you can have.

WHAT TO PUT IN THEM

A ‘character’ section could have names or pictures that resemble your character or even a character chart. ‘Plots’ could have outlines, ideas, twists and phrases or words that appeal to you. ‘Research’ might be links, sites, articles, book references or information that you have found. ‘Miscellaneous’ is anything that doesn’t fit into your categories, especially those little post-it notes that litter your house.

MAKE IT CLEAR

Are you a visual person, do you need to see or touch the information right in front of you? What about a large wall chart? You have a major character that’s causing heck? Why not write a large character chart and put it on your wall. You’re able to access details instantly and may even be able to solve your problems just by studying the chart.

Finally keep up the uncluttered office!