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?

NaNoWriMo - National Novel Writing Month

Hi all!

    Again I apologize for my absence but that little thing called life keeps getting in my way. Like the fact that our incredibly full house is being re-carpeted, painted outside, getting a new garage door, and a few other things. Timing couldn't be WORSE, the hubby's job is giving him grief for some personal illness issues, my work comp issue is flaring and I'm playing a game of hurry up and wait with the company and lawyers. But the timing though isn't ours to call - ah the joys of renting. But I can tell you that I am working on 20 new articles as I attempt to accomplish some of my personal goals. And speaking of personal goals, this month is National Novel Writing Month - 30 days, 50,000 words; sponsored by NaNoWriMo Organization. Which I have participated in (officially or non-officially for the last 6 years) and I will be participating again this year.

Base Repository Complete; the Crossroads - and Projects Update

Accomplished - Since 07/04/12

• Base Repository Completed

Well it's not as clean as I wanted it to be but it is done. I was down to my last two story series files, the corner stones if you will of the master series - yes I'm one of those sick David-Eddings-type people who not only writes within a "universe" but series within series, sometimes within series - and I realized that to whittle down those files any further it would mean me starting the writing process. So here I am standing on the threshold of where I've wanted to be for the last 4 years. I have so many directions I can go now. Where do I go now?

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.

"Return of the Pixie" - or "Life Happens"

    It has been weeks since my last post. Unfortunately I have been unable to post because I've been spending my waking hours cleaning out the garage of 17years of accumulated crap of my own and my family's as well as prepping for a pending move closer to the coast; so my few free moments have gone to my daughter.

    One big bonus has come out of this though, in the process of all this cleaning I have found the majority of my had written notes and manuscripts for my projects; including art and diagrams, several dozen notebooks, and possibly thousands of loose papers. This has greatly inspired my creative juices and I'm very much looking forward to getting back to work. There is still some work left to do around here so things will still be limited until that is done but I'm hoping to get back to work on this before May.

    My short term goals are to finish the file sorting, take down my notes for the story ideas I've had over the last few weeks, catalog and subsequently archive the on paper works I've found.

    Future post plans include Office Supplies, Getting in the Groove techniques, My Writing Tools, to list a few. I'm very excited to share this next part of this journey with you.

Projects - Goals 2.28.12

I have been so busy I have accomplished little the last few days but hopefully I will make up for it today.

Today's Goals - 02/28/12

• Continuing to whittle away at the 3,461 files left in the most important folders to sort.
• Work on File Comparison tools post
• Work on my Creative Writer's tools post

Back It Up! **UPDATED** 2013, Nov 22nd

    This will be my first post about "Process." My friend Mary Wine, a talented romance author, made a comment on my Welcome post that got me thinking that this might make a very good subject to open the Process section of the blog.

"A backup drive is a must! It's amazing how often I need to go back to a book or submission I thought was way past dead"

    And she is thoroughly RIGHT! Today's technology makes it easier than it has ever been before for writers to keep track of all of their files; there is no excuse for not backing those files up, and regularly at that.

Getting into the Groove

I spent several days thinking about what I wanted for this blog. I've decided that there will be several kinds of posts for this blog.

• Goal Posts - These are pretty much self explanatory. Goals for daily, weekly, short term, log term goals.
• Progress Posts - These post will most likely be fairly short and filled with technical details, mostly about editing or work progress statuses.
• Character Posts - Mostly for character ideas or epiphanies regarding characters or character development.
• Story Posts - Similar to the Character Posts but regarding Story ideas, Plots, Series ideas, or titles.
• Overview or Summary Posts - I will attempt to post one each month or at the completion of major projects.
• Process Posts - These posts will relate to the process of writing. More specifically my process, what works for me what doesn't as well as what I find works for others on a consistent basis.
• Random - Writing related but general in nature.

Hopefully this will foster a creative structure that is both informative and entertaining.

 ~ Claire