Keeping Organized and a bit about File Naming **Updated**

   Hi all! Today’s topic comes from a question posted by a new member on FWO; a fiction writer’s site I belong to.

   “Does anyone have any tips on organizing my notes?” (I’m paraphrasing)

   Well we all have our own ways and our own methods of attempting to organize the creativity oozing from between our ears. A lot of us carry around laptops or tablets these days. But, even with the ever changing, more and more portable, highly interactive computing devices available in our world - even right down to our phones - nothing seems to be as popular as good old fashioned pen and paper when it comes to fiction writers. So what does that mean? That means that most of us have shelves, boxes, bins, even closets full of these processed trees. If you’re working on one, maybe two projects at once that’s usually not a problem to keep these organized as carrying two notebooks and switching between them when necessary isn’t too difficult. But if that was your situation you wouldn’t be asking; “How do I keep organized,” now would you?

The wand which weaves; My Favorite Pen

"Art thou a pen, Whose task shall be

To drown in ink What writer's think?

Oh, wisely write, That pages white

Be not the worse for ink and thee."

~ Ethel Lynn Beers~

    For centuries writers have put pen to paper - or parchment - weaving their "webs of words" to enchant their audiences. I cannot speak for anyone else, but every once-in-a-while I have to get away from the computers, the tablets, the phones and put pen to paper; to let the ink flow. When it's easier to paint pictures with words with the feel of my favorite "brush" in hand whispering softly across my writer's canvas instead of the clack-clack of the keys beneath my fingertips. There is something about the journey an idea takes from knocking around in my head, down my arm and into my fingertips - whether the words flow in a gentle cursive or burst forth in a flurry of print and shorthand - and in that moment an idea can become a tangible thing. It is at those times that I find myself so completely immersed in the experience that the words and pages disappear. Almost as if the pen cradled between my fingers were but a vessel for an entity entirely of its own, the story reveals itself. I treasure those moments.

    Throughout time there has been much praise and homage paid to the virtues of the pen. One of the most familiar quotes being "The Pen is mightier than the Sword" coined around the year 1839, by English writer Edward Bulwer-Lytton. The quote comes from Act II, Scene II of his play Richelieu (liberally based on Cardinal Richelieu);

"True, This - Beneath the rule of men entirely great,
The pen is mightier than the sword. Behold
The arch-enchanter's wand! - itself a nothing! -
But taking sorcery from the master-hand
To paralyse the Ceasars, and to strike
The loud earth breathless! - Take away the sword -
States can be saved without it."

Famous playwrite William Shakespeare wrote in a similar vein in reference to the tool of the scribe in Act II, Scene II of his classic tragedy Hamlet:

"... many wearing rapiers are afraid of goosequils."

But it is not only classic writers who have commented on the worthiness of the hand written word and it's instrument. Even in these modern times Irish author and journalist, Clare Boylan, noted this:

"Some writers have a personal love affair with particular pens. Others do not give a blot what comes to hand so long as it is stick-shaped, silent, and able to make its mark. I was surprised to discover about 70 percent of writers still write full manuscripts by hand." - Clare Boylan

And it is in the spirit of this assertion that we continue on. Now, I happen to be one of those former writers that Clare Boylan mentions, and over the years my writing tool has changed. In this article I'm going to cover several tools that I have used over the years and why. Maybe it will help you find a favorite writing utensil, or maybe it will simply entertain you that a writer can be surprisingly neurotic about something so seemingly trivial.

The Birth of a Book - Blog post share

    I was doing some reading online and found this; Birth of a Book. I thought it was worth sharing and rather funny. Funny but true. Don't get discouraged, just know that it can be a tough road ahead getting from idea to finished product.

Back It Up! Part Two - a tale of almost woe.

This is a Perfect example of why you must not only backup, and back up often, but if at all possible have a third copy (a hard copy or digital - or both) of any important files.

Pixar nearly lost all of Toy Story 2 during production!