At my local writers’ critique meeting this month, we had a discussion about the best way to organize the digital files of our writing in progress. This hit home for me because I have been meaning to clean up my own digital files for quite a while now.
Each writer has their own unique style and workflow, so there will not be one organizational method that is perfect for everybody. However, making the effort to develop some kind of organization system for yourself can save you a lot of time and reduce your stress level. More time and less stress? Sounds like a no-brainer to me. 🙂
Instead of trying to reinvent the wheel and create some kind of all-encompassing article about different kinds of organizational systems, I thought I’d just share some other resources with you that I think are worthwhile. Just click on the titles below to read each one.
Get Your Writing Organized
- How to Organize Writing Files in 4 Easy Steps
This article outlines a simple straightforward method that most resembles what I personally do right now. - How to Organize Your Writing on the Computer
This article gets a little more detailed and shows some ways to reduce frustration when using a complex system of nested folders on your computer. - How to Get Your Writing Done Every Day: The 3-Bucket system
This article isn’t about organizing your files as much as it is about setting up a good daily system for getting your writing done. However, there are some great suggestions for tools to use to help you keep your 3 buckets full and things moving nicely from one to another which ultimately helps with your organization as well.
Protect your hard work.
No matter what kind of organizational system you use for your writing, it is even more important to make sure your files are backed up . I always recommend having at least 2 copies of your documents: one on your computer and one off-site. It wouldn’t hurt to have a third backup on an external hard drive that you keep in your desk drawer too. If you work on more than one computer, cloud storage solutions like Dropbox, iCloud or Google Drive are great ways to have easy access to your files from any device you are using.
I hope you get some good ideas from these articles. If you have a tip or another resource to suggest that could help other writers keep their work organized, please do take a moment to leave it in the comments.
