Tuesday, February 13, 2007

Keeping up with the ... hmm, with myself


I have used many systems in my life to keep organized. You see, I'm a chronic forgetter. If I don't write it down, it doesn't get done.


Consequently, I have notepads everywhere -- in my car, next to my computer, next to my chair in the living room, near the exercise bike, on the back porch. Notepads, pens, and pencils (pencils in the car since the ink freezes in pens in the wintertime).


This works fine for the basics ('stop at D'Amico's on the way home for crustini' or 'don't forget: haircut tonight'). But now that I've got books, plural, releasing this year with publishers, plural, I found that I needed something else.


I fell back on my trusty Palm Pilot, my auxiliary brain. But that didn't quite work. Again, it could give me appointments, etc., but I wasn't get the full picture.


So here's what I did: I got me a big spiral notebook (9x12). I printed out an 8x11 monthly calendar, one page per month. And on that calendar I wrote down what I had to do that day: "Post to CP blog", "prep files for newsletter", "submit Chapter newsletter today" ... Then I set aside 2 pages per month with these topics: PROMO, CHAPTER BUSINESS, MY NEWSLETTER, and MISC. Under each topic I'm putting things I want to do.


So now I have a place to note things for, say, September ("Don't forget to register copyright on the Pig Book") or June ("chapter newsletter this month should focus on National Conference").


I told the Spouse that if the house catches on fire to grab the cat and The Big Notebook. I've got backups of everything else ...

So far, so good ... but it's only February. The true test will be if I'm sane by the end of the year.


J

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