Organize your writing magazines.Get inexpensive magazine holders (like these from IKEA: cataurl.com/XwcXt ) and write the YEAR on the spine. Then, as magazines come in and you read them, put them in that years holder. If you keep all your magazines you’ll have a simple way of keeping them organized.

If you get different types of mags (like RT, Publishers Weekly, Writers Digest & RWR) consider having a holder for each type of mag. IE, Romance. Business. Or, RT, Publisher’s Weekly, etc.

If you only like an article or two in each mag, consider cutting them out with a razor blade, hole punching them and keeping them in a writing binder. We’ll talk more about writing binders tomorrow.

If you like several articles from each mag (too much to clip out and refile) write what you like and the page numbers on an index card, staple the card to the cover of the magazine and then use one of the filing methods above. That way, they’ll be organized and you can see your favorite articles at a glance.

And if you’re really organized (I’d recommend this only to those souls who are naturally organized, not newbies b/c you can drive yourself crazy and go overboard easily) consider making a spreadsheet of your favorite articles (like on the cards above) but on one big spreadsheet. Include the magazine’s name, article title, page number, and the month/year of publication. And if you want, the location of where the magazine is stored (like Holder 2006).

Good luck and happy organizing.

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