How to Be an Organised Writer

I've said it before and I'll say it yet again.

One of the hardest things I find about being a writer is having the self discipline to sit down  and work.

But it's not just about being disciplined enough to write.

I also need to be organised.

Why?

Because otherwise I waste time doing the same things over and over or spend hours looking for something because I cannot find which folder (digital or physical) that I filed it in.

This is why I have to have a place for everything and keep everything in it's place whether it's in my physical office or my virtual one on my computer.  I need to have a system of saving and updating things so that I don't waste time having to do things over from scratch or searching for a document.

I also need to have a way to do things. This means having a system for the way I write and publish articles and books.

For instance, for my blog posts I need to scale my images to size. To do this I know I need to change the width to 250 px and allow the image to scale proportionately to the correct height. I do this for every image that is in the top corner of a blog posts like this one. That way I know exactly what I have to do once I've downloaded a suitable image. I also go to the same website, FreeDigitalPhotos.net to get all my images. That saves me having to look at more than one site.

It's the same with any job you do, whether it's a paid job, a work-from-home job and even doing chores around the house.

I have certain cleaning jobs I do at home on certain days. That way I just automatically do them without thinking about it and over the course of each week everything gets cleaned.

And it's the same if you start a new job. You learn how they handle everything from the morning mail, to public displays, advertising, filing systems, databases and more.

Companies have systems in place to speed up the working day.

Writers have systems in place to speed up their writing day.

I have systems that I use for the way I write articles. I have another one for how I write books.

If I didn't, every time I wanted to write something I'd have to sit and think of where to start, what needs doing and what order to do it in.

But because of my writing systems I know exactly what I need to do first and what to do next.

That way I simply work my systems and the writing gets done.

It's kind of like going to the gym or going on a diet. Once you know what you have to do, you just do it and you get fit or the weight drops off. No need for further thinking and planning. Just do what you gotta do and get on with it.

Likewise, I just stick to my tried and trusted writing systems and that's how I manage to work as a writer and earn all my income from my writing.

Being an organised writer is just as important as being a writer.

Without my filing systems and simple writing systems, I wouldn't get much done in a day.