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Killing the Clutter-(Part One)
The Value of Getting Organized and the Simple Steps to Do It
by Lisa Beamer

Everyone wants to be a little more organized and work-at-home writers are certainly no exception. How many times have you thought to yourself, "If I could just get organized, I could write better!" or, "If I could control the clutter...the papers...the calendar, I would have more time to write!"

These "ifs" may or may not be true when it comes to how your writing will turn out, but realistically speaking, the more organized you are, the better chance you have of working more efficiently. So, how do you get organized?

The two biggest organizational struggles people face, center around clutter and time. Both of these are big issues and therefore this will be a two-part message. This week, we will look at ways you can kill the clutter so it will not overwhelm you. Next week we examine how you can be more productive with your time.

Papers and Piles

Piles of paper are an occupational hazard of being a writer. If you are lucky, you have an office with plenty of space to accommodate your piles and you can shut the door to keep them from spilling over into the rest of your life. For those who aren't lucky enough to have that sacred space, the papers have a tendency to follow you around, often taking over the entire house. This is not conducive to writing efficiently and often ends up being frustrating for everyone in the house. (Just a note...even if you do not have a room to call your own, I highly recommend finding one corner of your house that is your "office" and is designated for your writing and related activities.)

The first step in keeping your papers tamed is to minimize how much paper you allow in your house to begin with. In her book "611 Ways to Do More in a Day", Stephanie Culp suggests this approach: ask yourself how you can get rid of every piece of paper that comes your way. Your options are to toss it, act on it, file it or pass it on.

Whether they are your children's school papers, newspapers and magazines, mail or old rough drafts, make an effort to go through them and discard any papers that will never be of use to you again. Open the mail immediately, and toss the outer envelopes and filler junk that you don't need. Throw out flyers and catalogs that you know you will never look at. Give away past issues of magazines that you really do not read.

Categorize and file

Next, categorize the papers that you decide you must keep and separate them into "writing-related" and "non-writing related" categories. With regard to anything that does not have to do with your writing, create a simple filing system to keep them organized. This can involve a half-sized milk crate with hanging folders or an accordion envelope file that can be kept in a convenient place.

Create a file for each of your children's school papers, one for any other paper-producing groups (such as Boy Scouts or sports teams) and one for bills. As the papers come in, immediately file them into their appropriate folder. Papers such as bank statements or receipts that need to be permanently filed in a file cabinet can go into another folder, allowing them to stay together until you have time to do that filing.

Last, keep a separate file for anything writing related. Scraps of paper that have ideas scribbled on them, magazine subscription renewals, etc. all go into this folder so that they can be easily located. Later, as you head off to work in your office space, take that folder with you and file those items appropriately.

Organizing the office

Again, create a filing system for your writing-related papers. Decide on the categories that make sense to you, but the main thing is to be specific - don't be afraid you will use too many folders. For example, instead of one folder for all of your writer's guidelines, have separate folders for women's magazine guidelines, business magazine guidelines, parenting magazine guidelines, etc. Being specific makes information retrieval so very easy.

Have a folder for printed copies of all of your work. Have a folder for rejection letters. Have a folder for copies of writing-related receipts. Have a folder for reference material. Most importantly, use these folders regularly to keep the papers organized instead of spilling all over your desk.

Keep projects organized

Now that you have all of your general papers in order, organize writing projects. Since most writers work on more than one thing at a time, it is likely that you will have papers for several different articles sitting around. Make a folder or an envelope for each project that you are working on. (Large manila envelopes are great for this and keep small papers and business cards from falling out.) Keep all papers for each project together: interview notes, hand-written notes on ideas for the piece, letters from the editor with whom you are working, etc.

Keeping things together like this allows a work-in-progress to be reached at a moment's notice, such as when an expert source suddenly decides to call you back after you've left 5 messages for him and you are in the middle of making dinner. It also lets you file notes and information quickly, such as when an incredible opening line pops into your mind for project B while you are working on project A.

General household clutter

For those office-less folks who risk having their work spill out into the entire house, the reverse also holds true. It can be very hard to keep the rest of the house out of your workspace, wherever it may be. Kids' schoolbooks and toys, spouses' magazines or other belongings, and even piles of folded clothes waiting to be put away can make their way into your work area leaving it unnecessarily cluttered. Even writers who do enjoy their own office space may run into the problem of having the office be the "hiding place" for clutter when time is short and you need to get the house in shape. Avoid both of these scenarios like the plague.

As work-at-home-writers, it is a common lament that we can't be both great housekeepers and great writers at the same time. When you factor in the time you want to spend with your children, housework can easily become a low-ranking priority. As the clutter begins to invade your work area, however, it can have a potentially negative impact on your writing as it provides for a myriad of distractions, and that is not good.

Here are some simple steps you can take to avoid having your workspace overrun by the rest of life:

--Make everyone in the house responsible for his or her own things. Just because you are at home doesn't mean you have to take care of everyone's stuff all the time. From an early age, children can be encouraged to pick up toys when they are finished (and spouses can be too!)

--Pencil "cleaning time" into your weekly schedule. Necessary evil that it is, if you have a set hour or two factored in already, you will be more likely to get the basic, no-frills cleaning done and keep clutter (and dust particles) to a minimum. Tasks that can't be planned can be taken care of during your day as you take breaks from your writing.

--Multi-task whenever possible. Do tasks like laundry or dishwashing around your work by throwing a load in before you sit down to edit your current project. Put in another load before you begin dinner. Have some phone calls to return? As long as they are not interviews or other such calls that will demand your complete attention, make them while you are washing dishes or folding laundry. A portable phone can be a real help here.

--Have a designated spot for everything in your house. If you know where everything is supposed to be, then you can quickly put things away during your few allotted weekly cleaning hours rather than just stacking them up for later.

--Do a nightly "once-over". Before going to bed, walk through the house and pick up any stray items that may have been left out. Be sure to have family members do this same exercise so that when it is your turn, you will only be picking up your things, not theirs. This is a great way to ensure that your day will start off well the next morning because you will be greeted with an organized home instead of a messy one that can stress you out before you get out of your jammies.

--When you do encounter those desperate times when you need to get the clutter under cover but don't have time to do it right, try the laundry basket approach. Go through the house and collect in the basket everything that needs to be put away, then hide it until you have time to do the job right. It isn't pretty, but it works in a pinch!

By keeping clutter to a minimum, you do yourself the favor of providing a more stress-free and efficient environment in which to work. The bottom line to controlling clutter is summed up in the old adage, "less is more". If you don't need it, get rid of it. Better yet, don't bring it into the house in the first place.

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