|
1) Writer on the Web: Check Your From Line and Use Meaningful Subject
Lines
Send yourself an email. How does it look in your
inbox?
Is your full name listed? Or is the message from
"Dan"? I even list my web site, so messages from me come from
"Julie Hood, OrganizedWriter.com".
You can change how your name appears using your
email software usually under Tools, Options or Settings.
What subject lines do you typically use? Are they
content-filled, or do you use things like "Greetings" or
"Hello" or "Question"?
I've noticed 90 percent of my ugliest and unwanted
email messages (named after a famous meat product) come from Mark who says
Hello or Jim who says Thank You. These first-name only senders use one- or
two-word titles like I described above. So I've started deleting all of
these messages without even looking at them.
If you're trying to reach me by email, please be
sure to mention Organized Writer in the subject line so I don't
accidentally delete your message. Thanks!
2) Book Review: Let Go of Clutter
by Harriet Schecter
Conquer your clutter. Stop being a slave to your
stuff. Understand why it's so hard to get rid of your stuff.
What would your life be like if you could accomplish
these three things? How much happier would you be? How much more peaceful
would your life be?
Author Harriet Schechter gives you a step-by-step
solution in her book, Let Go of Clutter.
In the first chapter, Why Letting Go is So Hard to
Do, Schechter explains why we may be biologically programmed to
accumulate, why the fear of regret keeps us from discarding stuff, and how
society encourages us to gather more and more.
Chapter 4, Purging Paper and Preventing Piles, is
another favorite chapter. The author walks us through the method she uses
with her clients to quickly sort and purge paper piles. Just like
Organized Writer, she recommends a File Index, and shows you how to set it
up for your household.
The last part of the book looks to the future and explains how to keep
your home clean once you've decluttered it.
On a side note, I was excited to see how similar
many of the ideas in this book are to the Organized Writer. I felt like
I'd met a kindred soul while reading it. It's filled
with lots of fill-in-the-blank forms and step-by-step pathways to take you
from clutter-filled to clutter-free.
If your clutter is taking over and you've reached
the end of your rope with no idea where to start, check out Let Go of
Clutter by Harriet Schechter, regularly priced at
$16.95.
The author also has a fantastic web site at
http://www.miracleorganizing.com/
You can read an excerpt
from the book at
or buy it from Amazon.
3) Copyrights
Monthly task: Do you need to register any copyrights? See
http://www.loc.gov/copyright/
If you are not in the US, the US copyright office has a
document about international copyright.
4) For the freelancers...
Writer's Clips
It's our monthly "update your clips" tasks:
1. Review your Clips Index and Clips Detail Sheets. Add
new clips and fill in any missing information.
2. Next, dash to the copy center, and make copies of the
clips you have on paper.
3. Update your web site with the most current clips (with
permission first, of course).
----
Track Your Submissions
Monthly task: Glance through the Expected Response Dates on your Submission Tracker form. Is anything late? Do you need to follow-up?
5) Back to School
If you're like me and scrambling to get ready for school, here is a link to some
detailed tips on getting
organized from ParentSoup.com.
Happy writing! Julie
|
