This entry was posted on Thursday, May 17th, 2007 at 10:52 am and is filed under Freelance Writing, Business of Freelancing, The Writing Life. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
If you are like most writers I know, you are constantly coming up with ideas for articles, stories, client projects, blog posts, marketing for your business, and more. All the ideas I get would prevent me from getting any real work done if I entertained them all as I got them. Instead, I have to get them out of my head and into my system for tracking ideas so I can get back to the current to-do list.
I use a combination of paper and electrons to keep track of everything. It’s not the most elegant method, but after many years, I’ve learned that my system is the only one that really works for me.
I have a big notebook on my desk divided into the major categories that represent my various writing enterprises, a tiny notebook in my purse for when I’m on the move, and a pad of paper on the bedside table for those late night, middle of the night, and early morning brainstorms.
All the random ideas I get go into one of these three paper places. Every now and then I move ideas that still seem interesting or relevant from the little notebook and the bedside pad into the big notebook. Notes about clients go into that client’s project folder on my desk.
I look through the big notebook regularly and when I decide to act on an idea, I move it into the PDA. The PDA only contains items that I really consider to-do items for the coming month or so. When I’m working, I look at the PDA only and don’t get distracted by the hundreds of waiting ideas in the notebook.
This may seem like a terribly inefficient method, but it’s actually a great way to filter ideas and let the best rise from the scraps of paper and into the PDA. Looking through the notebook also lets me see themes in my thinking over time, which inspire new approaches to projects.
How do you keep track of all the ideas you get? How do you prevent all of your ideas from overwhelming you or distracting you from your paying work? Write a post on your blog and link back here, or leave a comment.
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May 17th, 2007 at 1:37 pm
You ask a good question. Tracking thoughts, sources and ideas when they come through so many different channels (including my own brain) has become a real sore spot.
Sounds like you’ve evolved a system; sounds a little to complex for my tastes, but that might indicate I’m a wild, undisciplined thinker.
I carry a small notebook with me, but in spurts. And I’m toying with the idea of a personal digital recorder.
From there, everything goes into a Google Docs document that I maintain for article/marketing/blog post/lottery ticket winning ideas.
Tracking online information has really complicated the whole mess, and I’m still looking for answers.
May 19th, 2007 at 1:25 pm
Right now, the extent of my “keeping track” plan is to bookmark certain websites that spark a writing idea for me - I have a folder in my bookmarks dedicated to them. Sometimes I revist and actually write about them; most times I forget.
I actually have a notebook designed for keeping track - I stopped using it after about the first week of purchase!
I should dig that thing out again.
January 30th, 2008 at 11:24 am
I just started the approach Tom has taken - keeping ideas in a Google doc - and it’s working great. This way I can access it from home or work and I can start writing the idea out even though it’s sometimes just a sentence at a time. I also do Alicia’s bookmark approach but never seem to go back to the sites.