Staying Organized After The First Draft.

You’ve just finished your messy, pukey draft. Now what? Where do you begin?

I love writing drafts.  Anything is possible, and it doesn’t even have to make sense – yet.  Over the past few years, I’ve hand drafted, meaning I’ve handwritten thousands of words. I won’t be able to keep that up much longer. My writing has become illegible, and my hand cramps. Ah, the joy. I do still prefer it when I can. Plus, if I get stuck I can doodle – and there’s no Internet attached to my composition book. 

This is how I wrote as a full-time mom, dragging my kids around to the parks, and pools, places where a computer would not be practical anyway.

How do you stay organized while writing a novel? Which techniques do you use?

 I’m constantly evolving as an organized individual, and look for simple ways of keeping notes and ideas in order. I really enjoy Scrivener for this, where Characters and Places have templates of their own, and you can detail every little thing.

On Anita Nolan’s Blog she writes: The End Is Not The End, a great post that lays the revision process down. (Recommended by Cheryl Klein at her Plot Workshop) It’s my go-to reference. What are they blogs or posts on the revision process that have helped you the most?

Does outlining help you? Or do you save it as the last resort, when you’re really stuck?  That’s the way I fly, on the fly, writing and scribbling just to get it down, and when I’m stuck and in need of ideas I begin writing a list of possibilities.

What do you have to shove aside to get the words down? For me, I write first thing in the morning, without reading the news, or checking Facebook—both of which could change my entire mood for the day and inhibit my productivity.  Once the words are down I can move on.  I’m a morning writer, and when I have the most energy. Evenings are for dreaming.

How do you manage when you have young children, or with children at all?   As for me, see above, when I carried a comp book around everywhere when my boys were young.

Annie Neugebauer’s blog has this for the Organized Writer:

Because organization is just a framework for creativity. There you’ll find templates for submission charts, novel scenes, character charts, questions for an agent interview, and more!  This was quite the find. Thanks Annie!

Guess I’m looking for new and improved ideas. There’s always room for more.  Whatcha got?