I like to be
organized, and having a dedicated office makes it easier. I use a bulletin
board as one of my organizational tools, and where would I put it if I had to
write in a coffee shop or even at my kitchen table? Yes, I also have notes and
lists and research materials in binders, but I like having crucial information a
glance away.
Maybe a bulletin
board would work for you, too. It’s something to think about, anyway. And if you
need ideas, here is a tour of mine.
The upper left-hand
quadrant lists my monthly writing goals. I have three goals for August: to send
my just completed manuscript out for editing, to work on the second draft of my
current work-in-progress, and to send an earlier manuscript to the next round
of agents. I’m currently right on track, but I might not be without the list in
a prominent place to remind me.
The upper
right-hand quadrant has two items. The top one is a copy of my Indiana
Registered Retail Merchant Certificate, which is a sales tax registration that basically
authorizes me to sell my books out of the back of my car. It reminds me that
writing is a business as well as something I enjoy doing. The second item is an
inspirational quote from Hebrews 12:2.
The bottom left-hand
side has the outline for my current work-in-progress. I’m somewhere between a plotter
and a pantster, meaning that I work from a skeletal outline and change it when
circumstances warrant. My outlines are a one-line summary of each chapter and
include the day of the week and the date for each one. If I get lost, I just
glance up and find myself again.
The content on the
bottom right-hand side changes with the manuscript. My current WIP takes place
in the real town of Vicksburg, Mississippi in 1863, and I want to get the location
details right. A significant portion of the story occurs in a cave built as a multi-family
bomb shelter that also serves as their dwelling. Although the particular cave
is fictional, the layout needs to remain the same throughout the book. So this
month that lower right-hand quadrant contains a map of Vicksburg as it looked
in 1863 and a diagram of the cave. When I was writing about the Great Chicago
Fire, that part of the bulletin board was covered with a map of the fire’s spread.
For a story that follows the seasons, I post a copy of the calendar for the
relevant years. In every case, however, that portion of the bulletin board
contains information that I consult frequently while writing.
Every writer has a
different routine and a different way of organizing to write, so what works for
me might not work for you.
But feel free to
use my bulletin board ideas if they help.
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