If you’re like me, you have writing ideas, to-do lists, reminder lists, etc. to keep track of. Here’s a little piece of free software that you might find useful.

Tiddlyspot

This is an online organizational tool that’s free to use. It’s based on GTD (Getting Things Done), but it will work with your own methods too. I use this kind of setup to organize my writing into projects. A project might be a short story or novel, an article, a query. It might be something not really writing related, like maintenance on the blog, networking with other bloggers, ad campaigns, etc. If you’re going to work on something that takes more than one task to complete, it’s a project in my organization system.

I then list out all the tasks for that project. A short stories list might look like this…

• Finish writing rough draft
• Do research on medical conditions that cause convulsions
• Find two or three appropriate markets

A project list for the blog might look something like this…

Improve blog SEO

• Research SEO plugins and choose one to install
• Add plugin for Related Posts
• Change post titles
• Find new theme to install
• Announce new theme and downtime on blog

I store tasks in this system and ideas in another, Google Docs. When I have an idea for an article, I make notes in a new Google Document. Sometimes that’s no more than a title, but other times it’s the skeleton of an article. I divide articles and short stories, novel ideas, etc. into folders, one for each story, novel, or blog. When I need an idea, I have some already there, ready to be used.

There’s one more benefit to using these systems; both are online and available anywhere you have internet access. Log in for five minutes at lunch and makes a few notes, work from home or on the go, even jot down some ideas from your mobile phone. This is a great way to get your writing life (or regular life!) organized and track your ideas and projects.

Of course, I still carry my moleskine, for times when I just want paper or the internet is inaccessible. I like knowing that, no matter what, I have some method of collecting ideas and notes so that I won’t lose them.

Anyone want to mention other organization tools you use with success?

I think posting goals has a very positive impact on the amount of work I get done each week. I may not finish all my to-do’s, but I do finish MORE because of the list than I would otherwise.

Here’s how I did last week. Not bad, considering that I was out of town three days.

• Go through my email – Done
• Go through all blog comments and moderate/answer/etc. – Done
• Post two articles to Constant Content – No
• Post 3 blog posts to each blog -Done
• Spend 1 hour working on elance profile – No
• Spend two hours on the novel – No
• Spend two hours networking – Done
• Set up a StumbleUpon campaign – Done

And here are my goals for this week.

• Write two constant content articles
• Write the promised guest blog post
• Spend two hours editing the novel
• Spend one or two hours on a short story
• Post 3 posts to each blog
• Spend two hours networking

I want to get back to planning out my week. Here’s my list of things I need to accomplish this week.

• Go through my email
• Go through all blog comments and moderate/answer/etc.
• Post two articles to Constant Content
• Post 3 blog posts to each blog
• Spend 1 hour working on elance profile
• Spend two hours on the novel
• Spend two hours networking
• Set up a StumbleUpon campaign

What do you want to accomplish this week?

Whether it’s editing your novel or scrubbing the toilet, there are things that you need to do, even want to do, but just can’t find the motivation to do. When you’re in that situation, what do you do?

1. Do it for five minutes. The key here is truly letting yourself off the hook after your five minutes is up. If you know you’re going to force yourself to continue, you just won’t start. After all, that’s the problem in the first place. The good part about this is that you at least get something done. If the task is small, you may even complete it. However, if you use this tactic too often, you may fool yourself into believing you’re “working” on a project when you’re not.
2. Envision it complete. How would it feel to finish up what you’re dreading? Take a few minutes and allow yourself to really feel those emotions. Close your eyes and visualize putting the finishing touch on the novel or sticking the dreaded tax forms in the mail. Use those positive feelings to push yourself to do it.
3. List the benefits. What benefits will you gain by finishing the task? You’ll be able to ship the novel off to an agent if you take time to finish it. You’ll be ready to write this weekend if you clean the house tonight. Let yourself get carried away if you want, but imagine all the good things that can or will happen because you finally tackled that project. Continue reading →

I’m still fighting off a cold, so my progress post is late. I hope I’m not the only one who finds that a bit ironic.

Well, here’s how I’m doing.

1. Spend two hours on the novel done
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works no, and I’m thinking of pulling this off my list for now
3. Go through my e-mail done
4. Find at least one new short story market done, but not posted yet. Will do that soon
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs done
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts no
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs some time, but not an hour
8. Write one article started, but not finished
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour no
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe) done
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard done

Not bad for being sick, I think. What tips do you have to be productive?

Wow, what a spectacularly unproductive week. We were out of town a couple days, and then I came down with a rotten cold. Anyway, here is my update, such as it is.

1. Spend two hours on the novel no
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works no
3. Go through my e-mail yes
4. Find at least one new short story market no
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs no
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts no
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs no
8. Write one article no
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour no
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe) no
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard spent 1 hour
    

That’s terrible, isn’t it? I’m going to leave my goals the same for the upcoming week. Let’s try to do better, shall we?

1. Spend two hours on the novel
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
3. Go through my e-mail
4. Find at least one new short story market
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
8. Write one article
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe)
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard

Last week, I set some goals for this week. So, here I am to update you on how I did.

1. Go through my e-mail (not yet, but I plan to tonight)
2. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs (done for 2 blogs, only 1 post for the third)
3. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts (done)
4. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs (done)
5. Write one article (done, and submitted it too)
6. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works (nope)
7. Spend two hours on the novel (ahem… nope)
8. Send one inquiry about guest blogging (done)
9. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard (done)
10. Find at least one new short story market (no)

While I didn’t accomplish everything I wanted to (obviously), I’m still pleased with the amount of work I did get finished. I think the real benefit of an exercise like this is getting MORE accomplished, not necessarily everything on the list.

And here’s my list for the upcoming week. Those items that didn’t get finished this week will get higher priority next. If you’re doing something similar on your own blog, leave a link in comments and I’ll link to you.

This week, my goal is to finish the following.

1. Spend two hours on the novel
2. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
3. Go through my e-mail
4. Find at least one new short story market
5. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
6. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
7. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
8. Write one article
9. Work on Elance profile for at least one hour
10. Friend a few people on twitter (I’m cornerscribe)
11. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard

links

Originally uploaded by lizjones112

Here are some interesting (and useful) writing links that I’ve come across lately.

Tools to Life

This site lets you set and track goals, and get support from group members as well. Warning: the site has sound.

MindMeister

This is an online mind-mapping tool. Yes, there’s a free version.

Google Smart-Pricing

Courtney Tuttle explains how to avoid having Google devalue your adsense clicks because one (or more) of your sites has a low click through rate. Yes, this explains why you don’t see adsense here.

Short Stories

East of the Web has a place where you can post your short stories and share them.

Astronomy Picture of the Day

Here’s one for fun. Enjoy!

I’m taking a cue from e-Moms at Home and her Monday Motivation. I’m not into the reward (or punishment) like she is, so I’m just going to see how being publicly accountable works out for me.

Here’s what I’m going to do…

1. Announce each Monday what I plan to accomplish for the week.
2. Update by the end of the week and let everyone know how I did.

By Sunday night, I will

1. Go through my e-mail
2. Write 3-4 blog posts for each of my 3 blogs
3. Send thank you’s to people who stumbled my posts
4. Spend at least an hour commenting and stumbling on others’ blogs
5. Write one article
6. Spend two hours on the non-fiction grammar book I have in the works
7. Spend two hours on the novel
8. Send one inquiry about guest blogging
9. Spend two hours networking on Entrecard
10. Find at least one new short story market

Wow, that sounds like a lot, doesn’t it? Care to join me? List your goals for the week below, or leave a link to your own post.

I’ve been trying to get better about responding to e-mail, and to do it more quickly. I find that I get a couple hundred messages daily, but most of those are either spam, newsletters, reminders, or other messages that I don’t really need to respond to.

And buried amongst those are the e-mails I DO need to respond to.

Here are a few things I’ve begun doing to help me master my inbox and stay on top of e-mail.

Create filters 

E-mail filters will help you to automatically organize your e-mails into those that you need to handle right away and those that can wait until you have some time. First, take a quick look through your inbox, sorting it by sender. Where are those e-mails coming from?

You can make several folders, one for each sender. If you prefer, put all of your non-critical e-mails into one folder. I prefer the former because it makes it easier for me to clean the folders out periodically.

Click one of the messages. You should have an option to create a filter using that message. In Thunderbird, you’ll find it under the Message menu. Once you’ve created the filter, choose the option to run it on the messages you have in your folder.

Depending on your inbox, you may need a few sessions before you get all the filters set up that you’ll need. Once you start seeing the benefit, you won’t miss the time it takes to get set up.

Yes, it felt great to see my inbox reduced so quickly!

Don’t do e-mail every day

This might seem counterintuitive, but it’s not if you think about it. E-mail takes a lot of time, especially if you try to respond to those who’ve emailed or commented on your blogs. Rather than doing that daily, I find that setting aside one or two days a week is better for me. I can get into the e-mail “mindset” and get a lot done in one sitting.

Another benefit is that I don’t allow myself to get bogged down daily with e-mail and not have time for other writing.

Purge! 

Be ruthless. Do you really read that newsletter? Do you need to get all the e-mail updates you’re subscribed to? Take the time to unsubscribe from as many things as you can. You’ll appreciate the lack of clutter in your inbox.