Paula Roe - romance author

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Get Organised, Get Writing!

(notes from my workshop at RWAustralia's 2009 national conference and generously funded by Copyright Agency Ltd)

My aim for this workshop is to provide you with ideas and solutions to whatever organisational issue you’re having. Because really, if you can organise your shit then it will clear the way to productive writing. I’ll show you what I do, and what I’ve learned that others do – but this workshop isn’t a ‘do as I do’ because really, we are all very different people, it stands to reason that we approach writing in a different way. Take away what you think will work for you, try stuff and keep or discard it.

LET'S TALK EXCUSES

I don’t know where to start the story
I don’t know my characters
I can’t write well enough/lack confidence
I’ve got too many ideas in my head
I have other things to do/don’t have the time
I don’t have a deadline/contract (especially for aspiring authors)
I don’t feel like it
I have writer’s block (to which I say - crap. There’s no such thing. It's simply (or not so simply!) a lack of direction/enthusiasm for your story or doubt demons)
my life is too crazy at the moment

Okay, we’ve talked about excuses so let's assume you’re all here because you WANT to write, right? But you just need help in directing your energies.

WHAT STOPS YOU FROM WRITING?

Time

It takes around 21 days to form a new habit. To identify where all your time is going, fill in a time diary for a week to identify where every hour goes. From here you can work out the best way to utilise it to write. This could be on a lunch break, to/from work, before everyone gets up in the morning or after they go to bed. Because of my other commitments, I write during school hours, from 9.30am - 2.30pm, five days a week.
Organise the family with a calendar – block out writing time and simply write ‘work’ (the power in that one word (as opposed to 'writing') validates that you are doing something important, and people are less likely to interrupt)

Location

get yourself a writing room. If you can't, claim a writing space. It can be a desk or corner of one, or the kitchen table.
If it's not a dedicated space that's all yours, compile a box of “mobile writing” stuff – Ikea have some great boxes on wheels, KMart have the plastic storage ones. Or you can simply use a copy paper box. In it put your pen, notes, USB drive/files, clippings and any other writing-related stuff. Pretty it up because the nicer it looks, the more inclined you are to use it.
Write in the garden
The local park
Gloria Jeans, Starbucks or the local coffee shop - but make sure you're there to write, not socialise!

Interruptions and Distractions

Turn off the phone, put on the answering machine or voicemail
close the door or if you don’t have a door, go somewhere else
get a notepad, laptop, Alphasmart and head off to your local coffee shop
Write when everyone else is sleeping, or shopping or out doing other stuff
Learn to say no without guilt. "No, I can't have coffee with you today." "No, I can't help on the Mother's Day stall." Get into the habit of saying "I'm working" and/or "I have a deadline" instead of "I'm writing". For some people, just because you are home and "writing", you're just playing on the computer and available to gossip/shop/lunch. The difference is all psychologic but an important distinction to make.
Thinking about the other work that has to be done (I’m not getting paid for this!”)
Housework

This is where you have to do some serious thinking and goal setting. Do you want to get published, or for those who already are, sell that next book?

Lack of direction/enthusiasm/planning

I believe this is about your story – about how connected you feel with it

Other priorities

Sickness either of self or loved one, animal
car pooling, P&C, coffee club, minding kids, family - learn to say no, or "not now but I can do it next time."
Single parent
Work
Personal upheaval

Most of these cannot be predicted. Marion Lennox once told me that when setting a deadline, add one week for your mother, one for each of your kids and one for the pet. But sometimes life can throw you for a six and you have to know when to give it the attention it deserves and put your writing on hold. Only you can make that distinction.

back to For Writers

Marbig document holder (or 'pigeon holes') from OfficeWorks.

Monthly appointment calendar on magnet board.

My two WIP boards - the left is for plotting and organising my story, the right is for the dialogue and other important notes.

PLAN TO SUCCEED

Small Stuff

Paper shuffling – bills, invites, comp deadlines. Try to handle each piece of paper once - file this stuff (I use a concertina file with monthly tabs) Clip out interesting articles and pictures, print emails and file them. Here's one of the systems I use (right): the office pigeon holes by Marbig. I got it at Officeworks for around $60 but you can pay a bit more for less holes that are hard plastic.

Medium stuff

diary for appointments, deadlines. I have a good-looking diary with a month to an opening, a calendar and a to-do list
To do list - don’t rely on your memory. List everything you can think of that you need to do, from buying a new dress for the RWA dinner to sending out a new proposal to an editor. Then cross it off as you do it. Crossing off tasks is an enormously satisfying feeling and a good motivator
calendar - either visual (I use a freebie one pinned up on a magnetic board - see right) or you can go electronic. You can set appointments and deadlines in Outlook, and Entourage for Mac.

The Big stuff

Files and folders – I sort my articles in two arch lever folder, with tabs for topics e.g. "plotting', "GMC" etc. My research info gets another bunch of folders, again with topic tabs "heroines" "clothing" "weddings" "careers", "houses", etc. And because I frequently write alpha heroes, I have a pigeon hole dedicated to "rich toys" which covers everything from cars to holidays to watches.

I also have an in tray on my desk that has my current wip stuff, because if I don't see it, I forget it. File it away and it's out of sight, out of mind for me.
Plot chart/GMC grid/outline - Now, we get to organising your story. I have two boards - one a full white board (a pinboard can work just as well) which is divided up into 10 sections, one for each chapter. In each section I detail a plot point and any other significant details for that chapter. The second holds blue-tacked snippets of dialogue for that story that I've jotted down from notebooks, post-it notes, shopping dockets and restaurant napkins (see right). From there I transpose those details into my manuscript using Document Map.

STAY ORGANISED AND ON TRACK

timer
daily/weekly word counter - you can write these totals on a calendar (for free ones, you can make one in MSPublisher, get Microsoft templates here and free downloads here) or go techno and put it in a fancy bar chart
Excel word count tracker (if you want a copy, please email me!)
USB drives
computer folders
Appointments and deadlines in Outlook or other mail client
Widgets - I love these things! What is a widget? It’s a generic term like gadget or gizmo used to describe a piece of html code. You can either add this to your blog, website or computer desktop. Here's a shot of my computer desktop (right) with a few widgets.
Widgets can be found at Yahoo Widgets and Dashboard Widgets for Mac here and here (they also have some for PC, too) But be warned - you'll be sucked into a time vortex and mysteriously lose hours!
You can also add tickers (countdowns to special events) to your computer at Ticker Factory and Ticker Central. I also have a great little word count widget from Writertopia on my blog.

Writer’s software

Microsoft Word and Document Map - For comprehensive details on this great free tool, read my article here. To turn the fuction on, In Office for Mac you simply click on the Navigation Pane. In Office 2003 and 2007, View > Document Map

MORE HELPFUL RESOURCES

Software to help organise your writing

Books

Help, I’m Knee-deep in Clutter! – Joyce I Anderson – ISBN13 – 9780814474204

Organizing For Your Brain Type – Lanna Nakone – ISBN – 9780312339777

It’s About Time! The 6 styles of procrastination and how to overcome them - Dr Linda Sapadin – ISBN 0140242716

The Procrastinator’s Handbook – Rita Emmett – ISBN13 – 9780802775986

The Write Brain Workbook – Bonnie Neubauer – ISBN 13 - 978-1582973555

I love Yahoo Widgets! Here's some on my desktop (above): a weather tracker, international currency converter, timer and international clock.