Tuesday, April 13, 2010

Spring Cleaning for Writers

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For the past month, I’ve been dying to spring clean. But my schedule has been so busy that I haven’t had time to do more than just basic maintenance around the house.

The house definitely needs it. But I also try to fit in some writing-specific spring cleaning this time of year, too. It’s not hard to remember to do it—my desk is always crazy in April from having done taxes, and it reminds me to clear some space for my writing!

Are your financial and other documents encroaching on your writing space? I’ve finished my taxes, so I’m packing up 2009’s important receipts and documents in a box. Unimportant docs are being shredded. How long should you keep financial records? This link can help my American readers and my friends from other countries should be able to Google for a similar link.

My work space is usually the sofa in my den. I’m clearing off everything in that area to make it easier for me to think. I may move or give away old knickknacks, put the newspapers and magazines in the recycling bin, and try to look at the space with fresh eyes to make sure it still fits my needs.

As much as I’ve tried to eliminate paper from my creative process, I still have Post-It notes and papers from old WIPs. I’m throwing away papers from WIPs that have been submitted. If there are any for my current WIP, I’m making a new folder for them to keep them in one place until I transcribe them…which should be just a day.

I back up everything.

I clean off my computer desktop for improved organization and computer performance.

I organize my random Word files into folders.

Part of my spring cleaning process for writing is to figure out my direction for the year—what are my writing goals?

Has the spring cleaning bug bitten you yet?