My desk is a mess. It might give the impression of a busy working writer. But all it’s doing is giving me a headache. I can’t find anything. Even the desktop itself is out of reach. Drastic action is required.
Not to worry. I have a plan. Welcome to ‘Liz’s 7 Ways of De-cluttering a Writer’s Desk’.
(1) Sort mail and toss junk as as soon as it arrives (good advice for email as well)
(2) Use a ’in progress’ and a ‘finished’ basket to file papers.
(3) Keep a ‘reading’ folder of material I want to read in the future. Schedule time each week to read and empty (re-file) folder.
(3) Stop writing on scraps of paper and get a single notebook to record all ‘instant thoughts of genius’, statistics, addresses, phone number etc. It’s much easier to flick through a notebook than sift through collections of papers.
(4) Choose one day a week to file away all papers in the finished basket.
(5) Never leave unfinished projects sitting on the desk. When writing session completed, replace all papers in to folder and replace in ‘in progress’ basket.
(6) Keep nothing on your desk unless absolutely necessary. The sign of a productive writer’s desk should be a clear desktop.
(7) Dust and polish the desk once a week.
Think it will work….
Sunday, March 11, 2007
De-cluttering a Writer's Desk...
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3 comments:
Liz, I'm becoming more organized myself. I think we have to consider what works for us over time -- and eventually a system will emerge.
Hi Karen, you're so right - it takes time to organize - just wish I could speed it up. It seems everytime I turn around, the papers have multiplied...Liz
I have the same problem. Thanks for the tips! Maybe you could an article about decluttering.
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