GETTING ORGANIZED: CREATING YOUR CHECKLIST

If you've worked your way through the earlier TIPS & TRICKS blog postings, then you have considered whether or not you're cut out to be a writer (and decided that you are), what you think your voice is as a writer (and defined it clearly enough for the time being), and you've even thought up a few story ideas which you've tossed around and fleshed out to some degree in your imagination (and probably chosen one that you'd like to write now). You've even considered the importance of buckling down to some hard work, because that's what's in store for you, and it is the key to your success (and you are not shy about taking on the hard work ... you have decided you are hungry for it!).'

So now you're ready to begin ... or are you?

There is one last thing to emphasize before we get down to the nuts and bolts of developing, writing and editing your novel: the importance of organization!

Some of us are naturally highly organized. Some of us struggle to achieve even a minimal amount of organization. Ultimately, you will decide what works best for you, but I strongly urge you to approach your work as a writer as a job and to choose to be organized in doing your job. Remember, think of writing a novel as being similar to any other work you have done. You spend so many hours working and expect to see a certain amount of progress -- some results -- for that investment of time and effort.

Walk into any office and you will probably find they have desks, computers, phones, filing cabinets, and a filing system. They have a job to do, whatever it is, and they have a system worked out for doing it. They have the tools they need, a protocol for handling routine tasks, even a way to problem-solve unexpected surprises, and above all a way to keep track of what they do. They plan their work, document their progress, and can report on it afterward.

We all know how miserable it is to have a colleague out sick one day and you need something and only they know where they left it -- because they didn't bother to put it back where it should have been, where everyone else could find it, when they were finished using it! And have you ever watched someone with a messy desk at their work site, so messy they have to hunt all over the place to find a single sheet of paper with some important information on it? Have you ever made a lunch date with a messy, disorganized person and found they had forgotten all about it, since it failed to make it from the slip of paper they wrote it on to their day planner?

It's clear the well-organized, well-run office is superior to the messy, disorganized office. Yes? Clear? 100%? It should be perfectly clear! And if a corporation expects its workers to be at least reasonably organized in doing their jobs ... shouldn't you expect at least that much from yourself as you launch your own venture to create a unique product that might one day prove highly marketable? This product could become the source of your livelihood. It could become a real money-maker for you, if that is something you are striving for. Why not invest in yourself, in your tools and equipment, and in setting yourself up in the best way possible to succeed in this oh-so-very-important job? You give what it takes to your employer because ... that's what it takes. Give at least that much to your own work. The work you are doing for yourself. The work on your novel. Be organized. It's not that difficult, and it can make a huge difference in your productivity.

To bring this down to specifics, what exactly am I suggesting you do to be "organized" -- and is it for you?

Here are my chief suggestions for getting -- and keeping -- yourself organized once you are ready to start work on a specific novel. You will notice that there are only three of them:

1. Establish a CHECKLIST that you will use throughout the project to keep track of your specific tasks, deadlines and progress.

2. Actually use your CHECKLIST throughout the project to manage your specific tasks, deadlines and progress.

3. Be sure your CHECKLIST is accurate, logical, sensible, prudent, wise, reasonable, doable, helpful, and beneficial.

Inherent in the CHECKLIST are three concepts which bear individual attention:

SPECIFIC TASKS: Yes, you must give yourself a specific task, something to do in the here and now. When it is complete, you must give yourself another task, one that follows logically and helps bring you closer to your goal of producing a high quality finished manuscript worthy of publication. You will have a lot of little tasks. Represent them individually or in groups on your CHECKLIST, in whatever way is perfectly clear to you. Note that there are the goals you write down on your CHECKLIST, and then there are the other goals, the actual working goals, that you set for yourself each time you sit down to plan or write or edit. For example, the next task on your checklist might be "Complete Chapter Seven" but at the moment, as you sit down with two hours of writing time ahead of you, your specific working goal might be "I'm going to complete the first scene of the chapter today, along with a clear sense of the characters I introduce here and their motivations". You will find that by having specific, concrete tasks to perform, you will know what your goal is for this work session, and probably what is next on the list, and how the present task relates to the next task. In other words, you will be organized, and you will find that being organized helps you focus on what you need to do and that helps you maximize your productivity while minimizing the wasted time.

SPECIFIC DEADLINES: Yes, you must give yourself specific deadlines for each of your specific tasks. You don't have to fill in all the tasks or all the deadlines at the outset, but you must have your current one and your next one at all times. You might know in advance what you are planning to do in detail and make a long list of taks, but put in a deadline only for the first one to start, or for certain key tasks along the way, to give the overall project some definition (First Draft Deadline: November; First Edited Draft Deadline: May). Make deadlines, make sure they are reasonable, and stick to them at all costs. Try to complete your novel on schedule, under budget, and surpassing expectations for quality. Deadlines will help you do this, will help keep the work moving. You need them. They give you goals, little goals, and larger goals. Deadlines help you keep moving forward, and that's so very, very important.

SPECIFIC PROGRESS: Yes, as you complete your tasks by or before your deadlines, you need to note this as well, so that you will see that your efforts are paying off and you are making progress. You can use this information to schedule rewards for yourself along the way: "I'll go to the beach once I complete the next chapter".

Finally, what exactly might your CHECKLIST look like?

You can create a table in your word processing program. I use a table that has a column for a specific task (which might take twenty minutes or two weeks to complete, it just depends), a column for a deadline, and a column to record when I actually finished the task. I include an extra column labeled "Comments" so I can make a few notes here or there along the way in case any come to mind, such as "Good grief, that was challenging!" or "Breezed right through it!". I make my table fancy by having headers to divide the tasks into the various stages of the project: Planning, Writing, Editing. Under "Planning" I list steps I take, usually tables or questionnaires I have developed for myself to complete, as I plan the novel. Under "Writing" I list the chapters, one at a time, and use that to help pace myself. Under "Editing" I have a list of tasks to complete as part of the editing process. You can try to fill it all in in advance, but I'd suggest the first time through just putting a few tasks down to start with, that you already have in mind, and then add to it as you go. Let it grow with you as you discover the process, and the benefits of having a process.

In the following postings, I will start sharing the nuts and bolts that I promised, the details to consider in planning, writing, and editing your novel. There will be a number of tables, charts, lists, etc., that I mention. Many of them could become items for your own CHECKLIST.

Do you have a blank CHECKLIST up and running, ready to go? If not, make it NOW!