Tag: organization

BoardZilla

Stefanie Snider

I decided to try the whole planning-a-novel-on-index-cards-thing, so I bought a new cork board to hold them. I already had one in the office, but I decided I needed more space.

Ahem.

The small one is for mere mortals.

I had to move the front seats of the car forward, collapse the back seats, and was barely able to squeeze the trunk shut. The board came from our local Ikea-knockoff, so its size was given in centimeters, and I’m a bad Canadian and suck at metric but I’m thinking it’s at least four and a half feet tall. Maybe five.

I lugged it through the back door. My husband was gaming on the couch in the living room, and when he saw my new monstrosity he just laughed.

“That’s ridiculous! That thing’s HUGE! You could use it as a sled.”

“Shut up.”

“Or hold it over your head for a parachute…or use it to build an addition on the house…”

“SHUT UP.”

“Parasail…area rug…bet it won’t fit up the stairs.”

I rolled my eyes, asked him to kindly shut the fuck up, and went to carry it upstairs. I managed to put a ding in the wall, which made him laugh so hard I thought he’d pee himself.

I love my new cork board. It will be the answer, I know it. I’m guessing this thing’ll hold about 60 index cards, which should get me through just fine (ha!).

I told a coworker about it, and without missing a beat she said, “Flotation device in a flood.”

Shut up.

What I Did This Weekend

Stefanie Snider

I made some satisfying progress my continuing struggle to be an organized person this weekend.

Friday:
– took back library books, early
– finally upgraded my credit card to one with better benefits
– FINALLY changed my name at the bank (after being married a year this past May)
– scheduled another banking appointment to set up some new investments (holy shit! I’m a grownup!)

Saturday:
– bought more storage/organization bins and, y’know, actually used them for their intended purposes
– stocked up on sale pharmacy items AND took advantage of a one-day-only deal for store points

Sunday:
– got up early, bought and assembled a laundry-sorting hamper
– revised my daily to-do’s for this shift
– customized our Quicken program

I feel pretty good about things right now. I didn’t manage to get any writing done, but now that some of these niggling tasks are dealt with I feel like I can get further ahead this week than usual.

It’s Spring! Writers, Get Organized

Stefanie Snider

Spring always makes me feel fantastic. It’s not the frigid Canadian winter anymore (though I hate that less since I learned how to knit), and it’s not yet the scorching, disgusting summer when I turn into a walking freckle. Spring is when it feels like everything’s waking up again. It’s a great time to start new things, and with that in mind…

I started organizing. (If you know me well, I’m sorry I didn’t warn you to swallow your beverage before you read that.)

I’ve never been a consistent enough writer to need to keep track of things. I’d spit out a piece here and there, and there’d be huge gaps of nothingness in between. I don’t know how I lived for any real length of time without writing, but there you have it.

But now, see, I have plans. I have goals. I’m producing more and more all the time, and I started to realize a few things I need to keep track of. So I treated myself to an office-supplies fix shopping trip and set up shop, properly.

Now I have lists of character names, which stories they were in, dates of publication, sales information, outlines for future stories, a calendar…I actually feel like for once I know exactly where I’m headed with this writing thing, and how and when I want to get there.

I’m still feeling my way through this whole actually-staying-on-top-of-things thing, but it’s coming together.

What tips can you share on keeping your creative life organized?