Watch Me Get Organized

     I am so far behind on pretty-much everything I'm s'posed to be doing.  This is not intended as an excuse or means of relieving myself of guilt, as I should have a better handle on everything I do.  I am four years old, after all.  However, I lost myself in learning, yesterday, and I shall be forever grateful for the time spent in gaining the knowledge that I have.

     Organization is something that seems to elude me, in many ways.  Oh, my home is not a terror or anything like that.  In fact, we enjoy the peace of clutter-free living throughout every area of our home... except my office.  And though it is, for the most part, clutter free, improvements would greatly enhance my life.

     Now, you would think that, being a writer, I would find great pleasure in having my workspace free of stressful clutter-spots.  And you're right.  When I am in control, my whole existence is better.  And please don't misunderstand.  For the most part, even my office is somewhat organized.  But organization is not something that comes naturally for me.  Having Dyslexia and Adult ADD creates a sense of permanent confusion in my mind that is difficult to overcome and I have to concentrate Very Hard to accomplish the orderly surroundings that I crave for my own little area.

     Enter Kathryn Lay.  I was greatly blessed by learning from this fine lady and you may wish to seek out her book, The Organized Writer Is A Selling Writer.  Since I did mention her accomplishments in yesterday's post, I will only advise, again, that if you want to increase your writing income, I sincerely believe that Kathryn can help.  I have bought the book and I fully expect there to be great improvement in my life.

     How about you?  Are you ready to sell more of what you write?  Are you going to move forward in your efforts?  Then, this is one of the best writing tools I have ever seen.  Until the next time, keep a hug on.

Yaya

The Organized Writer

     Good morning.  I'm awfully late posting, this morning, but I've been learning so much about writing and organizing and so much more that I do hope you'll forgive me.  There is a place where I go to learn, as often as I can.  Its called the Writer's Retreat and, among other useful things about being there, they have an author visit each month or, thereabouts.  The author visits are not always on the same day, but I have learned some very useful information from so many authors that I try never to miss one of the guest author visits.

     If you aspire to being published or being published more often, I strongly recommend that you visit the Writer's Retreat.  The support and encouragement that you'll receive there will greatly enhance your determination to further your career.  Also, you can ask any question, anytime, and someone will help you with whatever you need.

     I've been writing for many years and had published quite a bit, but until I began visiting the Writer's Retreat, my confidence wasn't where it should be, as a writer.  I now have more confidence and more knowledge of the market and what my focus is, as a result of having learned so much on the Writer's Retreat.

     Again, I encourage you, if you wish to further your writing career, go visit and enjoy all that can be learned at Writer's Retreat.  For the record, the guest author, today, is Kathryn Lay.  She has published over 1600 articles, essays and stories included in magazines and anthologies.  Her latest book is called, "The Organized Writer Is A Selling Writer."  This lady truly knows how to get her work published and she's willing to share her knowledge and her organizational skills with us.  So, hurry!  This is her last day.  Until the next time, keep a hug on.

Yaya

Movie Mania

How often do you go to the movies? If you're like me, that would be about once every few years or so. However, I still get to see movies that I love. When I want to see something that I enjoy, I simply take from my group of comfort shows and settle down for an evening of popcorn and tears or laughter, depending on what I choose.
I can find a movie pretty quickly, now. It wasn't always this way. I used to wonder where that special movie was that I wanted to watch. After too much searching, I would finally choose something else because the one I wanted was lost in the heap, so to speak. Then, I got smart and created a very workable system.
For starters, I figured out how many kinds of movies were used in my home. There are some that I enjoy and some for the kids. Of course, we have movies that are my husband's particular favorites, too. Once I had established some ground rules, I was able to move forward with a plan.
Using a combination of colors and codes, I separated the movies according to where they were most watched. It was decided that we had five separations for our movies. You may choose to have more or fewer. Our distinguishing factors were: Daddy's, Mama's, Kid's, Church and Cartoons.
Next, I assigned each group a color. I listed all of the movies in alphabetical order so I could easily find any movie I was looking for. This will take some time, but when you are done, it is easy to add or take away according to how you buy or give away some of your stock.
After listing all the movies, I created a color-code at the top of the page, like this:

D=Daddy  M=Mama  K=Kids  R=Religious  C=Cartoons

Now, all you have to do is go through your list and color each movie to match the person whose shelf the movie is stored on. All of our DVD's are close together, but we no longer have any problems with kids sorting through all the shows that Daddy likes to watch so they can find a cartoon. They know just which shelf holds the cartoons.

When you are finished, your list will look something like this:

150 Cartoon Classics = C

Adventures In Babysitting = M

Ant Bully, The = K

Bambi = K

Battlestar Galactica = D

Beauty and the Beast = K

Cold Mountain = D
Daffy Duck = C

Love Comes Softly = R

Gods Must Be Crazy = M

Since developing this system, we have been able to find any movie we wanted within a couple of minutes. If you feel that you want to keep all of the DVD's together, you can eliminate the color-coding, altogether. Simply alphabetize.

I hope this system will help you find what you're looking for, too.

Paper Should Not Be Work

I promised I would share a trick I learned about how to stay on top of paperwork.  I only recently learned about this, but I was so impressed by the way it was explained that I had to try it out for myself.  And you know what?  It works.  I am not always so lucky.

Here's how it goes: first, make a file for whatever you are doing. No, not a whole filing cabinet full of folders. Just one simple folder for, say, your blog. In that folder, you will put anything relating to your blog, but it doesn't stop there. Let's say you post one comment per week and while you are thinking about what you want to post next, you have several thoughts on the subject. There's a way to stay on top of that, but it will come in a future post.

Okay, so your file is simply labeled Blog. Now, lets suppose your blog is about writing. So far, you have posted an average of once a week on your blog, for an average of four times per month for three years. Cool.

If you had made paper copies of each of your posts, you would now have a file full of papers containing copies of all of your posts.  That's awesome. Would you be able to go to your file and pull out a post that you wanted to refer back to? Possibly. But what happens if you are still posting on your blog fifteen years from now? Would you still be able to access the paper you want without spending a lot of time, shuffling?  Maybe not.

Here's what I've found helps: inside the hanging file marked Blog, slip another, smaller file marked 2006. In that file, place the copies of all of your posts from 2006.

Did you have several topics you discussed on your blog? Okay. Then all you have to do is put still another file in the hanging file and mark this new file Writing, if that is something you have posted about several times and if you plan to write more about it. Make copies of those posts which discuss writing and put those copies into the file marked Writing. Don't worry if you have several folders within your hanging folder. There's a way to take care of that and we'll be discussing that at a later date. I hope this helps you as much as it has helped me in gaining some degree of control over my many and varied types of paperwork.

Let's Get Organized, Together...One Idea At A Time

There is much to be said for living in one area for many years. Its something I never experienced, until I married. Then, it was as if my life came to a sudden, screeching halt. Well, as far as moving around, anyway.
Naturally, with all that moving, there wasn't a lot of opportunity for figuring out the finer workings of a smooth-running home. Just about the time I felt we were beginning to put down roots, whooooop! Another move.
We were a military family and I have lived in more towns than I could count. Now, however, it would seem that we are in one place to stay and I love it. Time for a new strategy.
Thus, I have decided to dedicate this blog to the care and feeding of Dust Bunnies and Sock Orphans. Do you have hints and tricks that you are willing to share?
For the most part, our home is comfortable. There are many of the finer details, however, that I would love to know more about.
Perhaps you have a particular way of staying on top of the laundry? Or, your sock drawer is free of orphans and you'd like to share how you've managed that?
Maybe... and here's the big one in my life; you have learned some secrets to making notes, then being able to recove those notes later?
I know of no one who has absolute control in their lives. In fact, I would go so far as to say, I doubt that there is such a person living. So if you know of some way to help the rest of us do something a little better, I'd love to hear it. Just think of it as your way of helping to clean up the earth.
Thanks for your input.