I am delighted to introduce to you author Elizabeth Kolodzeij. Elizabeth and I met on She Writes and then the craziest thing happened. She asked me to do some beta reading (which I did and thoroughly enjoyed). Later that same day I had a meeting with Brian Mattocks from http://www.rentasmartguy.com who was going to design my website. The first example of his design work he chose to show me was Elizabeth’s website! I do not believe in coincidences. I hope you enjoy; I know I am inspired to get organized…
I don’t know about you but I don’t have hundreds of dollars to just giveaway for things like a white board where I can write down the plot to my next book. And I bet a lot of you don’t have the wall space for one either. However, you must keep track of your stories (especially a series) in some way. So I am going to introduce to you the cheap way to stay organized.
Writing Vampyre Kisses was fun and not too difficult to keep track of ideas because it was my first book. Then came Werewolf Descent, and I found my-self having to flip back through VK to remember the world I created and the character descriptions. Now, I am writing the third book in the Last Witch Series, Witch Devotions. How am I going to remember everything I wrote when I can barely remember what I had for breakfast an hour after eating?!
Well, I am big with organization, of course the way I organize may not seem that way to others but, hey, if it makes sense to your self then that’s all that matters. First lets start with the easiest way to organize. I know this goes back to high school, yet it works, get your self a binder and some dividers (at least 12 if you’re a freak like me). You’ll want to label sections with things such as: characters (this will include a profile of each character with personality traits and descriptions), plot (one for each book), important notes about the world you have created, ideas for future books, etc. This is what I did in the beginning.
Problem was I out grew this because it wasn’t something staring at me day in and day out and therefore I would forget about things. That’s when I wanted to get the big white board. Have you seen the price for one of these though? And the wall space I would need! So I got to thinking, what if I took one wall and just wrote everything on white pieces of paper in pretty color markers? I must say it isn’t too shabby! I just taped it up to the wall and when I come home there it is staring at me, calling to me with notes and questions for my next book.
Then came the idea to devote my whole dining room as my office. I don’t have a big place (again, the poor writer) so I had to give it up! And having a desk just wouldn’t do cause… well… their friggin expensive! But, if you go to staples (or wherever) and get the small items like a pencil older, file holder, so on and so forth it looks just like a desk. Plus the dinning room table was from goodwill so that was only $25 bucks. Cheap right?
Next, I pointed the table toward the wall with all the character descriptions, questions that need to be answered in later books, notes about the books I have done, bubble maps, etc. Everything right in front of me so I didn’t have to search through a binder to figure out what I needed. Now, this may work for you and it may not. Maybe you don’t have the wall space. For that I say use the ceiling. <grin> Sometimes a binder is just as good. The importance of this post isn’t about how you get organized but that you do keep organized.
Writers have so many thoughts floating around their mind at different times. You must have some system so you don’t forget those perfect ideas and inspirational quotes. I wish you luck in your organization journey.
So how do you stay organized?
Be sure to visit Elizabeth’s web-sight…
Werewolf Descent:
http://www.smashwords.com/books/view/66252 <- smashwords
http://amzn.to/mEPbuy <- kindle
http://bit.ly/lIdhum <-nook
