Here I am, still organizing! I went through my books the other day and now I’m organizing my notebooks. I’ve felt so good going through all these things and more. Maybe I’ll talk about the more part later on, but I think I’ve overloaded you guys with so many organizational posts lately!
I have more notebooks than I can count. I’ve got a drawer under my bed filled with notebooks that have been used and filled. I have two other bins under my bed filled with notebooks and journals that have yet to be used. I also have a three-shelf bin in my office. The top holds my accordion folders with my manuscripts and various drafts in them as well as notebooks that are being used for current drafts and projects I’m on right now.
I had gone through those last summer (I think) and that’s why they each have their own little home. I also have a filing cabinet in my office that has two drawers. The bottom one is filled with Kris’s things and the top drawer is… overflowing with my stuff.
I give each of my writing projects a file folder that holds the current draft as we as an research or loose-leaf notes. I didn’t count how many folders I had in there, but the drawer was filled enough that when I opened the drawer, it would sag because it was so heavy with folders and paper.
I have a list of stories I plan on writing and when I was younger, this list used to be pages and pages long. So, instead of waiting until I officially began a project, I made a folder. For every. Single. One.
Half of these weren’t even “ideas,” mind you. If I came up with a title idea that sounded cool, I turned it into a folder because… I’d come up with a plot to go along with that title at some point, right?
So, I put the live action 101 Dalmations movie on Netflix over the weekend and I tackled that drawer. It took me almost two hours to go through it all. (That time could also be because I got distracted by the movie at times.) I saved the folders of stories I knew I was going to write soon or in the future. I put the other folders to the side and went through them separately. I wanted to double check I would never write those stories and I also had to go through any research or notes that might have been in the folders. Most of the folders were, however, empty.
My drawer is now just a little less than halfway full. I can open and close the drawer smoothly because it no longer weighs a ton. Not to mention I can fit the folders in standing up now rather than stacking them on top of each other to make them all fit… and then taking them all out one by one to look for that certain folder.
Looking at it, it doesn’t seem like I did much but it really made a difference. I feel so good that I’m slowly going through all my things and de-cluttering everything.
Have you gone through your notebooks and writing lately? Let me know in the comments below. If you liked this post, please share it around.
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