teaching an old meerkat new tricks.... and re-using old ones

[lagilman]

As part of my office rearrangement, I set aside an area for my manuscripts, in all their various stages* (revision, draft, page proofs, etc). Each one has a yellow sticky tag on it, identifying the manuscript and the stage, and is stored on a shelf.

I just looked down and realized it's exactly the same set-up I used to keep track of what I was editing/putting through production, back In The Day (those of you who ever saw my office will remember the Wall O' Manuscripts). Well, hell, it worked back then....

Do you find yourself returning to certain organizational tactics? Or are you always searching for that Organizational Grail that will make the work flow better? What's worked for you/what hasn't?




*I try to keep a paperless office, but there are some things I find easier to do on hardcopy, and some things the publishers still send in hardcopy, so...

Comments

[(Anonymous)]

I've found recently that as my experience and needs change/improve my approach to the work changes. I am moving toward fewer drafts. I used to keep all my research in my head and only occasionally referred back to the books I keep on my shelves, but now have a research organization program where I put every tidbit that might be pertinent later on. I have way too many research books these days to be able to remember where I read a certain item. I also mark the books up more, and have a better sense of what I'm going to refer to later on.

So, to answer your question, I'm still adjusting.

Paperless office? I'm moving that direction. I threw out about a ton of hard copies of old manuscripts and photocopies of very old articles I wrote. If it's on disk, I don't bother keeping a hard copy any more. For editing drafts, I toss the hard copy as soon as I've entered the changes. However, I don't do freelance editing like you do, and don't have to keep hard copies of other people's manuscripts. Most of the paper in my office is published books.

[lagilman]

Actually, the manuscripts I have on my shelf are all (at the moment) mine -- sorry, will clarify that.

I'll start another shelf for client manuscripts, as needed.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Organizational tactics?

I'm an artist man, I don't do organization. It clutters up my feng shui channels and prevents me from thinking existential thoughts.

(buy it?)

[matt-betts.livejournal.com]

Ugh. Nothing seems to work organization-wise for me. For the most part I'm paperless, which does help a bit. There are some proofs and drafts that I feel the need to see on paper though.

[mindyklasky.livejournal.com]

::grin::

As I read your post, I was thinking, "gee, just like in her old office..."

I rely on my librarian-system for tracking to-do projects - it worked for me then, and so far, it's panning out now...

Oh - I like the new blog design!

[pbray.livejournal.com]

For works in process, my organization style tends towards clutter, with periodic waves where everything is stuffed into folders. While writing I surround myself with mounds of paper--drafts, story notes, research notes and books, etc.

I'm pretty much a paper-based lifeform, regularly slaughtering entire forests. It's intrinsic to how I write--I think about the story differently when I'm staring at a printout versus words on a screen.

My holy grail is an office assistant who would periodically tidy the things I'll never get to because they are always at the bottom of the priority stack :-)

[lagilman]

(buy it?)

Not even on a discount with free shipping.

[lagilman]

Yeah, I'm a 'piler' -- when I'm in the middle of a project it's a minefield to walk through my office space. But I know what's in every pile, and how to reach it quickly at need.... I also use a corkboard; that keeps paperwork somewhat away from feline paws and rolling chair wheels.

[neutronjockey.livejournal.com]

Then in that case I'm a file-folder junkie. Each writing project gets it's own assigned hanging file-folder where I stash its notebook and any printed material. Each project gets a folder on the local drive and a folder on the back-up external hard drive as well.

I'm going to go clean my feng shui now...

[spiziks.livejournal.com]

My office is nearly paperless. The only papers I have are contracts. Everything else gets recycled, including line-edited manuscripts from former meerkat editors. :) (This is mostly because I say to myself, "Why am I keeping this? I'll just have to move it one day when we sell the house.")

This means that, a hundred years after my death, people who study the genius of my work will have nothing to work with but the final version, the early drafts of a few synopses rescued by my more diligent descendents, and a precious handful of blog entries saved to a creaking hard drive. I'll be as mysterious as Shakespeare!

[lagilman]

oh, if I saved past-use manuscripts, I'd have to lacquer them and use them as tables! (I save them just long enough to print things out on the reverse side, so anyone trying to find a copy of the draft of HARD MAGIC would also have a copy of the in-progress VINEART WAR...)

[spiziks.livejournal.com]

It's like those old manuscripts from the Middle Ages where they find lost musical scores on parchments that were scraped and reused!

[lagilman]

OCD. It's what's for breakfast. :-)

[lagilman]

As I read your post, I was thinking, "gee, just like in her old office..."

Except there at any given time I had, what, 50? 60 manuscripts? I look back at that now and am amazed it took me so long to burn out. How do people do that for jobs they don't love?


Oh - I like the new blog design!

I miss some things about the old style, but am loving things about the new. So it all evens out...

[lagilman]

just be careful not to lick your fingers as you turn pages...

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

Writing-wise, I do everything on the laptop and never print out mss these days, with the exception of some stuff for Milford (mainly, however, I write my crits on the laptop and email them to workshop participants on return). We now edit online as well, via email.

All the non-writing related stuff is filed in boxes. For the business, it's a work in progress - my partner is one of those people who can turn a tidy office into a post-tornado wasteland in 10 minutes, but he has a very determined PA who believes that if she can handle Canary Wharf, she can sort out Trevor. Thus far, she's winning. For the Chamber of Commerce, I have a secretary.

This is not to say that the house is tidy, however.

[otterdance.livejournal.com]

Organization? I need a shovel to get to my computer.