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Take
the 2003 WOW Challenge! WEEK FIVE |
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Welcome to Week Five!
We made it...we reached the end of the 30-day get organized plan! Here's the last four days --
Thought for the Week - Forward March!
Do you organize for your work ahead? Or are you constantly organizing what you've finished (last week's work, the manuscripts from a month ago, etc.)? One of the Organized Writer's Six Rules is to Work Forward. You want to save time in the future by organizing for what's coming at you --not what you've already finished.
Here are five ways to Work Forward:
1. Think about a strategic plan for what's ahead next month, next week or even just tomorrow!
2. Design your filing system for what's coming into it tomorrow--not just what's in your To File pile.
3. Solve your biggest time-eater.
4. Create (the dreaded word) routines.
5. Become a fortune-teller. Forecast your future. Even if you're not sure about the path, at least determine your destination. You can find lots of ways to work forward as long you know where you're going!
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Happy Writing!
Julie Hood
julie@organizedwriter.com
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Mon, Jan
27, 2003
Day Twenty-Seven - Improve Your Skills
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IHow will you improve your skills in 2003? One of the most powerful ways to improve your writing is to improve your reading.
Here are a few of my favorite tips for speeding your reading:
1. Use your finger to guide your eye down the page.
2. Read just the headings.
3. If you have a long page of text, try just reading the intro, the first sentence of each paragraph, and the conclusion (if the writer did their job, you should be able to get at least 85% of the article this way).
4. Convert the font whenever you can. Plain text in Courier (often used in email) is the most difficult to read. Copy the text to your word processing program, and change the font to a more readable
one like Times Roman.
RoadtoReading.org
has put together a study guide and cassette tapes to teach speed reading and improve comprehension skills. If I had one wish for you for 2003, it would be improve your writing by reading more and reading faster.
The group provides the course for $8.95 shipping and handling ($12 outside the U.S.) -- I sent a money order. Get more information
here:
http://www.roadtoreading.org/arc/index.htm
BOOK
Day 27. Acrobat, Ctrl+N, p. 152. Paper p. 146.
1. How do you learn best? Take the quiz to determine your learning style.
2. Find out about the other "speed" every writer needs.
3. Get links to ten online course sites.
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Tue, Jan 28, 2003
Day Twenty-Eight - Make Your Household Hum
(so you have more time to write!)
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Today's task may take a bit of your time, but I guarantee you will be so glad you invested it. Today we are going to get organized for your 2003 Holidays, especially birthdays and anniversaries.
1. First, take a look at February. What's coming at you? Do you have any birthdays or anniversaries this month? Valentine's Day is the 14th. Do you have cards and presents for your loved ones? Do you need reservations if you're going out? If you have kids, do you have valentines for school? Will they need treats for a party?
2. Now make a Master Holiday List for your planner. List each month, each event that month, and the date. Include all the birthdays, anniversaries, and regular holidays for your family and friends.
(I'm putting this together in an Excel spreadsheet with a budget tracker.
Save time and purchase mine for $4.95 via paypal! If you're interested, email me at:julie@organizedwriter.com and I'll send you the details.)
3. Now go to your calendar, and with a color you don't normally use (I use red), mark every holiday, birthday, and anniversary on your calendar with a star in front of it. You want these reminders to jump out at you. Now put your Master Holiday List behind your calendar so it's easy to update your calendar next year.
4. Are there any holidays you forget every year? Go to your email calendar or
Memotome.com, and send yourself reminder emails.
5. Put together your 2003 Gift List. Open the document with your Master Holiday List. Add columns for To, From, Card?, Budget, Actual Spent and Gift. You may have more than one line for each holiday depending on your tos and
froms. For example, for my mom's birthday, we have gifts from us and from each of the kids. As you buy presents throughout the year, include them on this list.
6. One last tip, what's the most annoying part of any holiday? The cards! You know the routine: first, you have to buy them, then you have to keep track of them, and remember to send them on time. So here are some suggestions for getting your cards in order. First, buy a card organizer box.
Current has a nice one
(or from the home page at CurrentCatalog.com,
click on Organizers in the left-hand column).
Then, buy as many of the cards as you can for the year. I like Factory Card Outlet because the cards are only 49 cents. I can wipe out all our birthdays in one trip. Current also has some inexpensive cards. At
HolidayNotes.com, you could send electronic cards, and schedule them to be sent later (so you could finish out your entire holiday list in just a few minutes!). You could also pay for the service at
AmericanGreetings.com, create and print your own cards, get email reminders, and send electronic cards.
Instead of storing your paper cards by type, sort them in your card organizer box by month. Check your box once each month to see if you need to buy any cards and which ones you need to send in the mail. Store a pen and stamps in this box to make it easy.
7. If you're not worn out yet, get your address book in order. Convert it to an electronic version, and print it for easy reference.
BOOK
Day 28. Acrobat, Ctrl+N, page 157. Paper, page 151.
Get a ton of tips on how to streamline common household chores - food shopping, preparation and cleanup, laundry, paying bills, and cleaning and clutter - and find more time to write!
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Wed, Jan 29, 2003
Day Twenty-Nine - Rework Your Time
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Now that you've completed the 30-day plan, what are the most important changes you need to make in your writing life?
BOOK
Day 29. Acrobat, Ctrl+N, page 162. Paper, page 156.
1. Answer the five most important questions to ask yourself about your time.
2. Answer the five questions you should consider each week.
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Thu, Jan 30, 2003
Day Thirty - What's Next?
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We've reached the end! Where do you go from here?
Make one final list -- go back through the challenge, and list the tasks you still want to do. Here's the link to the beginning:
http://www.organizedwriter.com/2003wow1.htm
BOOK
Day 30. Acrobat, Ctrl+N, p. 164. Paper p. 158.
1. Use the the productivity measurements to determine how far you've come in the past month.
2. Design a plan of attack for any tasks you did not complete.
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Buy
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A key to effective
writing is eliminating time-wasters -- but
reading Julie Hood's The Organized Writer
is definitely not a waste of time! Hood's quick
quizzes will help you identify your own
"organization personality" (are you a
flinger or a packrat?) and thus the strategies
that will help you organize your writing (and
your life). Each chapter gives you a day of
easy-to-
accomplish tasks that are designed to turn you
into a more productive, organized writer in a
single month. Especially impressive are the
well-thought-out forms that accompany every
chapter (and every task); just print them out and
you're on your way!
-- Moira Allen, Writing-World.com
and author of The Writer's Guide to Queries,
Pitches and Proposals and Writing.com: Creative
Internet Strategies to Advance Your Writing
Career
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