Tools for Keeping it All Organized

Written on May 15, 2007 – 9:12 am | by Wordpreneur |

Wordpreneur Exclusive Writing is messy work. One of the writer’s jobs, after all, is trying to make sense of the mess. Here are three tools and methodologies that have helped me keep things organized and manage/order each project’s “mess” of information. From low to high tech:

1. Index Cards

Cheap. Easy. Fast. Recording, arranging and rearranging topics and tidbits of information is no-brainer simple. Great during power outages. Problem: Very easy to muck it all up by accidentally knocking the stack of cards off your desk. Primal scream, anyone?

2. Plain Text Editor

I know you have this (you’re reading this on your computer, aren’t you)? Usually free and comes bundled with your micro, like Notepad on a PC. I prefer using TextPad myself (it’s got a cool auto-indent feature), but Notepad will do. Just cut-and-paste to sort and rearrange. Learning curve: Flatter than roadkill.

3. Outline Software

I’m using this solution more and more frequently. It just makes my organizational tasks so much easier once accustomed to the software’s quirks and way of doing things. In fact, I use my outlining software for far more than managing information and topics for writing projects; get a good one, and they do become somewhat intuitive mini-database management systems.

Lots of this kind of software out there. The one I use is called ActionOutline Pro, something I stumbled upon years ago when I was publishing the then-popular Dirtsmart Netpreneur ezine. NOTE: I’m using an old version of the program; haven’t seen its latest incarnation, so don’t know if it’s improved much since this excellent older version I’ve been using. Considering how well designed it is, though, it most probably has.

Got any other “writing” tools (high tech or low, computer-based or otherwise) you think vital and indispensable? Share it with me and the rest of the Wordpreneur community! (And thanks!)

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Tips, articles, tutorials, jobs, markets, ideas and more for freelance writers, editors, authors and publishers (on demand, online, ebooks, traditional, etc.) and other "word"-based entrepreneurs. By Eldon Sarte