Staying Organized

Organization is a key part of my creative process (and life in general). From initial idea to final published file keeping things in order is vital to doing the work. It's so ever-present and helps me in so many ways that writing this is like a fish talking about its relationship with water, but the main thread in all of it is that good organization makes life easier overall and that makes being creative and creating easier too.

When my surroundings, materials, and tools are organized it removes barriers to my momentum. Physical ones like having to clear off a place to work or search for things and psychological ones like the passive burden of other things I need to do or getting distracted/overwhelmed by a mess of clutter right in my face. There's a whole host of little tasks that can accumulate and get in the way of starting or continuing work on a project and good organization is the thing that lets me sidestep them.

I've had a long time to figure out what helps (mostly by trial and error) and put it in place to build up a system that works for me. These are the methods I use every day. They mainly promote/support two things:

- Knowing where things are being being able to find them immediately
- Having space to work without interruptions or obstacles

That's what's important, maintaining a neat well-ordered environment so the only chaos is the positive creative kind and not the stressful "where the hell are my glasses?" kind.

Here's what I do:


Put things where they go
Everything in my house has a place where it lives. A dedicated spot where it belongs and it goes there and nowhere else. When I need something I go get it from where it lives and as soon as I'm done using it I put it back.

This is definitely the most important part of my organization system, both for writing and just generally running my household. Since everything has a place where it lives I always know where everything is. I don't lose things and I don't have to look for anything, what I want is always in its spot exactly where I left it last time. I also always know (or can easily check) how much of something I have, so I can plan when to restock consumables and avoid accidentally buying duplicates. It's the most useful, ridiculously simple thing I do and it saves me tons of time, effort, frustration, and money. It does rely on me actually putting things back when I'm done with them, but that's easy. I've been doing this my whole life so it's already part of my habits/daily routines and maintaining the organized state doesn't take much effort.

Keep surfaces clean
I keep all the horizontal surfaces in my house that aren't specifically meant for storage cleared off unless I'm actively working on a project.

So shelves are exempt, they can hold as much stuff as will fit (as long as it lives there), but tables, desktops, counters, and floors stay clear or have the bare minimum of stuff on them (like in the kitchen). They're work spaces, for doing work. Keeping them clear means that when I'm ready to work on a project I can just sit down and get started without having to clean anything up or make space first. I also have room to spread out and keep all my papers/notes/materials in view at once. It makes it easier to actually get things done and just exist in the space because I don't have the stress of looking around and feeling like the place is a mess. This is another thing I've been doing forever, so it's habit by now and easy to keep up with.


These two concepts are the basis for everything I do organization-wise. All the other things I'm going to talk about are hybridizations of these two at heart, just applied to specific areas.


Keep projects together and tidy
Working in analog means there's always a lot of paper to wrangle. I've got a few ways to organize it depending on where I am in the writing process and the size of the project, but the basic idea's the same: To keep all the papers and materials for a project together in one distinct package. Each project gets its own package and they're kept apart from each other. That makes it easy to grab everything involved in a project and move it/take it with me or keep it safe and neat if it has to sit and wait for a while. It also makes sure nothing gets misplaced or forgotten in a random shuffle. The entire manuscript is right there, ready to go at any time.

The way I store papers depends on whether a project is pending, in progress, or done.

For pending projects where I've worked up an outline and have more rough notes than can go in the ideas notebook I've got a 13-pocket accordion file. Each project's notes go in their own pocket and wait until I'm ready to sit down and work on them. It consolidates all the loose pieces and scraps that would otherwise be scattered around in piles into one compact unit that also keeps them organized inside.

For in progress projects size is a factor. Smaller pieces like blogposts go on loose leaf that gets stapled and stacked. There's usually not much delay between writing the second draft and copying it into a composition notebook for long-term storage so a neat pile of papers is good enough, but if it's going to be a while or there's a lot of drafts I'll slip the stack into an A4-size zippered plastic pouch just to have all of them in a single unit while they wait. Larger projects like zines and books that I know will be more involved go in three ring binders. I love three ring binders. They're classic, give a good level of protection and organization, and are convenient to work in. I use ones with pockets on the covers for notes and add dividers so it's easy to flip/navigate between sections of the project as I work. 1" and 1.5" sizes are the best for me since they're big enough to hold everything but not too bulky to store or carry around.

And for projects that are done there's the composition notebooks. Everything I finish gets copied into a composition notebook regardless of the size of the project. Part of it is nostalgia, I'm a sucker for a classic marbled cover, but beyond that (and my general stationery requirements of durable/cheap/common) they're a standardized size (B5) that's easy to keep on a shelf. When one's full I can just put it up with the others in a compact, visually unobtrusive set that can hang out for as long as necessary. It's perfect. To keep the info in them organized I give each notebook a number (they're technically a series), record the dates I start and finish them, and reserve the first page as a pseudo-table of contents with the titles of all the larger projects it holds. I also put sticky tabs on the pages where the large projects start so I can find them without a lot of page flipping if I need to reference something.

Really big projects like full-on books where the manuscript breaks 50 pages or projects with things like maps that don't translate nicely to a lined notebook page get an extra type of storage. I still copy what I can into the composition notebook but I also take the draft written on loose leaf pages, put a binder clip on it (since it's usually too hefty to staple), and store the whole thing in an A4-size zippered plastic pouch (with a silica gel packet or two to prevent humidity issues). The pouch goes in my filing cabinet and I keep it along with the text-only version in my composition notebooks. It's not that much extra effort to keep both, so why not?

Only use one side of the paper in early drafts
When I'm writing I only use one side of each page all the way up to the final analog draft in the composition notebook. 

I know it sounds weird and wasteful but there's a reason, bear with me. I write my early drafts in spiral notebooks and on loose leaf. Part of the process is tearing out and collecting those pages into a sheaf of loose sheets that I spread out across my table to read and work from. Writing on just one side means that when I lay out the pages I can see everything I've written at once and consider it all together. My attention can flow smoothly from page to page without breaks or distractions from having to flip sheets over and there's no risk of missing something written on the back of a page. It might sound silly/like a small thing, but I definitely notice a difference in the quality of my work when I'm only using one side of the page vs using both and having to flip them. It's also not as wasteful as it sounds since I save the pages from the old drafts and use the backs of the sheets as scratch/scrap/note paper before recycling them. (This post was written largely on the backs of previously-used sheets.)

Keep digital files simple
My digital files have an extremely elegant organization system based entirely on being as simple and straightforward as possible.

For blogposts I save them as a .txt file with the post's title as the file name. They all go in a folder dedicated to the blog and when a post is published I move its file from the main folder to a subfolder named "published". I also have an "images" subfolder that holds copies of all the images I've used in posts. Those are named [post title]+[original file name](+ a number if there's more than one image in the post) so I can find and connect them to the text easily.

Things for collaborations and zine submissions also get saved as .txt files and put in a dedicated collabs folder. The file names for these are [project/zine name]+[piece title] format.

This is plenty for blogposts and collab work since I generally only contribute writing and blogposts don't have complex layout. The file structure for larger projects is a little more layered but not by much.

For large projects I have a main "RPGs" folder. Inside that I have a folder for templates, one for images that I plan to use eventually, and individual folders for each project. The project folders all have their own subfolders for art/image assets, but other than that I usually only have three project files:

- A raw text file (.txt)
- A working file that's the laid out/finished version (.odt since I use LibreOffice for layout)
- A final printable version of the working file for publication (.pdf)

There might be more if I'm working with other folks, like original vs. edited version of the text or more subfolders in the art folder for specific references and sketches, but generally it's just the three files and art. No incremental saves or in-progress versioned documents, just the plaintext beginning and finished end product. All my backups (to removable media, the cloud, and other devices) use the same file structure so it's easy to search and add new files/expand as needed.


If these things sound like common sense, it's because they are. These are basic principles as far as organization goes, but they work. The hardest part is getting the system set up in the first place and building the habits to maintain it, then keeping an eye out for ways to improve it and making that happen. It's absolutely worth the effort though, just for how it lets me focus my energy towards creating instead of stressing over everything else.

Two Books

Part of having a lot of ideas is there's way more than I can work on in a reasonable amount of time, so I have to have a way to keep them safe and preserved in a useful format for when I can get to them. It's not that hard, I just had to spend some time experimenting with what worked and what was convenient until I found a good solution. My current method is simple: I write it all down in a notebook. It's easy to reference and add to, organized with a consistent logic, durable, safe from the problems electronics have (battery, signal/connectivity, accidental erasure issues, etc), and the entries are detailed enough that they still make sense after time's passed. It's perfect.

The exact form of the notebook took a little development. What I used to do was just put my pending ideas in the same spiral notebook that I always carried with me. That way I'd have them on hand to work on at any time. There would be pages of my to-write lists mixed in with the blank pages and I'd just cross off ideas as I finished them. It worked well enough, but it'd get more and more fragmented as I got things done; and each time I used up a notebook I'd have to consolidate and migrate the remaining ideas to the next one or cut the pages out and keep them as loose sheets that could get lost. It ended up being a waste of paper and time as the ideas built up.

What I do now is carry two books: My spiral notebook for doing actual writing and an ideas notebook that's a repository for pending projects' rough notes, bits of ideas, and anything else I'd want to revisit. When I get an idea I'll write it down on whatever's at hand (my spiral notebook, pocket notebook, scrap paper, whatever works) but not immediately in the ideas notebook. I'll let it sit for a while then transfer it into the ideas notebook. There will usually be a batch of ideas ready to be recorded by the time I transfer them over. Doing it this way means I only have to recopy the ideas once and I can look over them again and judge if they're really worthy of being on the to-write list, then refine the wording so future me will know what I meant.

It works great because it's a to-do list but it's also a collection of all the things I thought were inspiring enough to write down and preserve. If I'm off my game or just bored I can flip through the book and something will jump out to kick me into gear. It does mean that I end up carrying more stuff around but the tiny bit of extra weight and clutter is worth it.

The way I record ideas is straightforward: All entries are organized chronologically since they're added as they occur to me. Small ideas are listed as bullet points (as detailed as they need to be) and larger projects (zines, books, anything more than a single blogpost) get outlined on their own pages with some extra space after in case I think of more to add. I write everything in ink and use different colors for small and large ideas so I can easily find the larger projects while flipping through the pages. (In my last notebook little ideas were recorded in green and larger ones in red, maroon, or black.)

I'm also picky about the notebooks I choose for the job. My normal MO of 'cheap and durable, as long as it works' is good for my everyday working notebooks because I burn through them so fast, but the ideas notebook sticks around. It's going to be with me for a while so it needs to be nice to use and do its job well. I look for something durable, portable, and convenient. An A5 size book with a stitched binding, waterproof soft cover, and thin profile (~1/2" thick spine) is perfect. It's a nice easy to carry size and weight with plenty of space to write in.

To go with it I also have an 8" zippered tablet case. It's just cheap lightly-padded fabric with a few pockets on the inside that's waterproof and closes securely. I use it to hold the ideas notebook and any more detailed notes (on loose pages/papers) for the project I'm actively working on when I go out. It lets me collect everything into one compact and protected bundle that I can throw in my bag without fear of scrunching or losing anything. There are purpose-made journal cases and covers with extra slots and compartments for stationery or tools, but I think the tablet case works better for my needs because it's so simple. It's got everything it needs to do the job I have for it and nothing else to get in the way.

The Role of Stationery

I write almost exclusively on paper. Everything gets digitized eventually, but while I'm writing I prefer physical media for a variety of reasons.

- I find a blank page easier to start on and fill than a blank screen.
- It's easier on my eyes because there's no screen glare.
- There are fewer distractions than when using electronics.
- I never have to worry about battery life.
- I'll never lose my work if my machine dies.
- It's easier to carry a notebook and write than it is to carry and set up a laptop.
- I like it.

This means I go through a lot of paper and it's shaped my relationship with stationery over the years. I love office supplies, but I don't value them. I don't buy high-quality, expensive writing supplies. To me notebooks and writing tools are entirely ephemeral and expendable. They exist to be used, consumed in the process of creating, and are only valuable as a substrate for words.

Because of that my taste in materials is for the inexpensive, simple, and durable. I use things that can take a beating as I cart them around with me, do the job, and cost $1. Seriously, I try not to spend more than $1 per notebook. I wait for back-to-school sales and stock up or pick up stuff from thrift stores and garage sales. And honestly I would rather have 15 plain $1 composition notebooks to work in than 1 fancy $15 journal. It means I get to write more.

At the same time I try to get things that are nice. Not luxurious, but nice. Things that I genuinely enjoy using because even inexpensive and expendable things should be fun. If I like using my tools, writing is that much easier. If the tools I like are readily available, inexpensive, and expendable then I never hesitate over a notebook being "too good to use" or worry about wasting material. I can just get to creating.

What I end up using the most are:

Spiral notebooks
For ideas and early drafts. I try to get little ones that can fit in a pocket or get thrown in a bag. 5" x 7" (B6) is a good size, but can be hard to find. I like them mostly for the fact that you can neatly tear out pages when they're no longer needed. Lets you start fresh and cut down on distractions from past projects. (Seeing the number of pages decrease also feels like you've accomplished something tangible compared to notebooks where the pages are more firmly bound.) Being able to completely fold the spine back on itself is useful for writing while out too.

Loose leaf
Good for later drafts because it's neat and easy to store in 3-ring binders while a work's in progress. It also lets you shuffle pages and sections around as much as you like and lets you test different orders while finalizing a piece. (And it's cheap.)

Writing and legal pads
I don't use these as much, but they're useful as scratch pads for jotting down ideas or testing wordings before throwing them in a draft. Sort of a spare space to get dumb ideas out of the way when I get stuck on something. And they're invaluable for collecting and organizing entries while making lists.

Composition notebooks
These are the only notebooks that I keep long-term since they're my hardcopy back-ups. I love them because they're durable, easy to get, and easy to store. (Compact and uniform size is an ideal combo. There's also plenty of real estate for stickers.) I go with the classic two-color marbled cardboard cover ones for nostalgia's sake, wide-ruled so there's room to add notes, and usually fill one 200-page notebook every six months or so.

Rollerball pens
They're a little pricier than ballpoints, but it's worth it. The liquid ink makes writing easier so I can work for longer without getting a cramp or hurting my hand. Ink also keeps me from trying to edit and second-guess myself as I write. Since I can't erase I've just got to keep going and get words down. (They also come in gorgeous colors. Nice things.)

Pencils
These are the only concession I make to archival quality. Ink can fade, but graphite lasts forever. The paper it's written on could rot away and the graphite will still be there in a pile of dust. I use pencil in my composition notebooks because I intend to keep them for a while. I use wood pencils at home (because my dad gave me a 144-count box that I've almost finished) and mechanical while out.

On archival quality: It's not something I actually worry about. Finished books may be worth preserving, but my drafts are for me. If they last my lifetime that's more than enough. There's no point in trying to preserve these papers beyond me, so I don't bother.

And that's it. The materials I use, why I've selected them, and my relationship with them as tools of the trade. It all comes down to choosing what works, then actually doing the work.