Get Organized and Get Revised

Hello fellow writers. Today is a gloomy, grey, and rainy day in San Francisco. One of my kids is lying on the couch sick, so there will be no writing as I will inevitably be interrupted for food, blankets, Kleenex, juice, TV changes, and snuggles. 

Oh, and by the way, this photo I found on the web with the pencils in a neat row, clipboards, envelopes, and tags ready to go makes me so happy. I LOVE organizing! Yes, I have a little Monica in me. 


It's good to take a break from writing sometimes. Even if it's a forced break. But while I may not be able to write, I can organize. And boy, do I have a lot to tackle!



It's been just over one year since I had the idea for ANIMALIA. The book is done and has been revised once. I am in the middle of a second detailed revision, and once that is complete, I will be querying agents.





But as you can guess, years of work and revision pile up a year's worth of marked-up paper. I have chapters all over the place in my office. They have been read and edited by writer retreat participants, agents, editors, publishers, critique group writers, beta readers, and my amazing mentor.

None of them is in any kind of order.



So today, my writer friends, I am going to get organized.

• First, I will bring all of the paper out into my living room and scatter them in some sort of piles that make some sort of sense

 

• Next, I will separate them into revised and not revised, old chapters, chapters from Big Sur and Tahoe retreats, mentor chapters, and beta reader chapters

 

 

 

• Then, I will put them in order

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

• Last, I will find folders to put the different piles into and label them accordingly

 

After about 45 minutes, two cups of tea, one bar of chocolate, and multiple drinks, food, and blankets delivered to the sick child on the couch, I am halfway done with my organization.  I have to say I am quite proud of my piles of papers.

 I've decided to go the extra mile and remove all of the paper clips and use a stapler instead. That way, none of the pages ever gets lost again. I came to this conclusion after realizing that I have lost parts of 3 chapters due to paper clip malfunction.


 I have also lost parts of one chapter due to dog chewing. Yes, teacher, my dog ate my homework. I will make adjustments in my office to ensure this does not happen again. (maybe it was the chocolate smudge on the pages that got him chewing?)

After about 90 minutes, I have a well-organized novel in front of me. I'm so excited I could write a blog about it!!

Here I have the chapters I have already revised. They are in order and stored in this envelope, so none of the pages will get lost or eaten by my dog.

This is the last folder I created and the most recent readings I had done on the first 50 pages of ANIMALIA. 









Now that I am completely organized on this project, I feel I can get back to revising, tomorrow...when hopefully there are no sick children on the couch.

Use your gloomy daytime wisely!

Get organized and get revised.

Write~On,
Angie