I also am a big "Save for Later" person in my Amazon cart. I click on everything I read, especially on books, that I want to buy, and then go through and save them for later. Once a month I go through that and clean out what I realize I don't really want. I keep my calendar on my phone. I'm a big folder person. As in real live folders. I print out everything and keep the most pressing things I have on a To Do folder on my desk. Then I have my Submission binder dated by month and submissions sent and letters received back divided into sections of rejected and accepted. Each class I take has a little or big binder. Poems I print out. Articles I print. All have binders. I'm very tactile. I need to see them right in front of me. I do order a lot of ink and printer paper from Amazon!
That's interesting that you're still in the practice of printing out your poems and handling subs in this manner. I'd be interested to hear how common this is nowadays.
When I used to have access to an office printer... Printing at home gets pricey. That being said, there's a world of difference between revising a poem online and revising a poem on a printed page. Hard to emphasize enough. I've become highly accustomed to doing this online, almost exclusively, but I'm definitely missing out on the benefits of the printed page. I think this is a human thing and not a just a me or us thing. It's especially important for poets.
Lastly, I'll add that printing out the poems is basically required for putting together a poetry collection. I'd be interested to hear from those who have not done so. How they've managed organization without being able to physically shuffle the poems around.
I find I have to see the poem on paper to revise it. Just to feel the look of it if that makes any sense. And when I was putting out the collection for my first book (on Draft 5 edit...fingers crossed this is the final proof I send back to editors!) I laid them all out on the floor and arranged and re arranged them. I don't know how I would have done it on a computer. I also like that I have binders I can pull from. Poem ideas I have scribbled out, quotes, half poems, full poems that need work, poems I forgot I wrote. That all being said, it does get pricey and some binders that I don't use that much, or I don't need any more I have in storage. I'm running out of room!
Ah, the floor maneuver! Interesting. I know poets do this. In my mind though, it's really more of a novelist thing.
I've done the Bankers Box with folders move... and it lasted for a bit... but it became burdensome and then there's a bunch of old drafts around which can get confusing.
It is troubling getting to a point of having a very limited tangible paper trail for my personal writing.
And, oh yes, the storage situation. Sigh. Mine is quite bad... I remind myself it wouldn't be odd at all for a house... but in an apartment... I don't think you're really supposed to fill the coat closet with stacks of boxes. To each their own though, right?
That's for sure. I really need to rethink some of my folders. But I do like keeping my Poem folders...definitely the Poem Ideas folders. Because a lot of those are scribbled on bits of papers from my journal or from a hotel notepad or a napkin from a restaurant. Sometimes crinkled up and flattened out because I threw it away and then decided to keep it. They kind of have a story of their own. I keep them each in clear plastic sheet protectors. They are a story behind the thought for the story :)
Yay! Glad I'm not alone in the Amazon "save for later" move. I had a sneaking suspicion. I meant to add that part of my reminder system is because often, nowadays, these are nonfiction books (which have a TON of filler), and really the best thing to do (imho) is listen to a few podcasts episodes (interviews) with the author as opposed to getting bogged down in the nitty gritty book filler (some of which is really geared towards specialists / experts in the field).
I also have been putting things in the "save for later" section - books, mainly - hoping I get caught up enough to justify buying them.
Another poet friend has an index card system, so I started using that just to not only duplicate my system but probably quadruplicate it. I have cards (as well as a submission spreadsheet that indicate where poems have been published. In my other box (though I haven't kept up) I started colored cards with individual poems on each - red for "needs work," yellow for "maybe ready," and green for the ones I think are good to submit. And I also keep a binder of poems which were published in online journals.
For organizing in general, I do basically everything Mark indicates and more. 😞 I have probably dozens of emails I forward to myself (and re-forward) as reminders. Hyper-anal, obviously.
I started working with index cards because I heard that Ted Kooser keeps a stack of them in his shirt pocket.
Years ago, I started writing with Uniball Onyx pens because I read in an interview that these are the pens Billy Collins writes with. I admittedly got a pack of them not too long ago as a throwback.
I will NEVER give up my month-at-a-glance paper calendar (which I started using when I was still in an office environment). It's color-coordinated with pen, colored pen, colored marker, and highlighter. I can see, in a glance, how my day, my week, often my month, might play out. When things change, or we're trying to either schedule medical appoitments or travel, I can think about it more globally - and can look at many months at the ame time. I'm with you.
I LOVE it! You are definitely next level with your dedication to your planner. I wish I was that organized. I have a scary amount of daily spreadsheet, inboxes, and socials to keep up with... so it's inevitably a bit chaotic. I do know of guidance for my type of hectic though, almost humorously, I probably could have benefited from an MBA.
There was a time when life was terribly complicated - moving schedules for three people plus 24./7 caregivers. I used the wall-sized version of your desk calendar. Color coordinated. With a separate smaller paper calendar on the wall for the caregivers' schedule.
I also am a big "Save for Later" person in my Amazon cart. I click on everything I read, especially on books, that I want to buy, and then go through and save them for later. Once a month I go through that and clean out what I realize I don't really want. I keep my calendar on my phone. I'm a big folder person. As in real live folders. I print out everything and keep the most pressing things I have on a To Do folder on my desk. Then I have my Submission binder dated by month and submissions sent and letters received back divided into sections of rejected and accepted. Each class I take has a little or big binder. Poems I print out. Articles I print. All have binders. I'm very tactile. I need to see them right in front of me. I do order a lot of ink and printer paper from Amazon!
That's interesting that you're still in the practice of printing out your poems and handling subs in this manner. I'd be interested to hear how common this is nowadays.
When I used to have access to an office printer... Printing at home gets pricey. That being said, there's a world of difference between revising a poem online and revising a poem on a printed page. Hard to emphasize enough. I've become highly accustomed to doing this online, almost exclusively, but I'm definitely missing out on the benefits of the printed page. I think this is a human thing and not a just a me or us thing. It's especially important for poets.
Lastly, I'll add that printing out the poems is basically required for putting together a poetry collection. I'd be interested to hear from those who have not done so. How they've managed organization without being able to physically shuffle the poems around.
I find I have to see the poem on paper to revise it. Just to feel the look of it if that makes any sense. And when I was putting out the collection for my first book (on Draft 5 edit...fingers crossed this is the final proof I send back to editors!) I laid them all out on the floor and arranged and re arranged them. I don't know how I would have done it on a computer. I also like that I have binders I can pull from. Poem ideas I have scribbled out, quotes, half poems, full poems that need work, poems I forgot I wrote. That all being said, it does get pricey and some binders that I don't use that much, or I don't need any more I have in storage. I'm running out of room!
Ah, the floor maneuver! Interesting. I know poets do this. In my mind though, it's really more of a novelist thing.
I've done the Bankers Box with folders move... and it lasted for a bit... but it became burdensome and then there's a bunch of old drafts around which can get confusing.
It is troubling getting to a point of having a very limited tangible paper trail for my personal writing.
And, oh yes, the storage situation. Sigh. Mine is quite bad... I remind myself it wouldn't be odd at all for a house... but in an apartment... I don't think you're really supposed to fill the coat closet with stacks of boxes. To each their own though, right?
That's for sure. I really need to rethink some of my folders. But I do like keeping my Poem folders...definitely the Poem Ideas folders. Because a lot of those are scribbled on bits of papers from my journal or from a hotel notepad or a napkin from a restaurant. Sometimes crinkled up and flattened out because I threw it away and then decided to keep it. They kind of have a story of their own. I keep them each in clear plastic sheet protectors. They are a story behind the thought for the story :)
Yay! Glad I'm not alone in the Amazon "save for later" move. I had a sneaking suspicion. I meant to add that part of my reminder system is because often, nowadays, these are nonfiction books (which have a TON of filler), and really the best thing to do (imho) is listen to a few podcasts episodes (interviews) with the author as opposed to getting bogged down in the nitty gritty book filler (some of which is really geared towards specialists / experts in the field).
I also have been putting things in the "save for later" section - books, mainly - hoping I get caught up enough to justify buying them.
Another poet friend has an index card system, so I started using that just to not only duplicate my system but probably quadruplicate it. I have cards (as well as a submission spreadsheet that indicate where poems have been published. In my other box (though I haven't kept up) I started colored cards with individual poems on each - red for "needs work," yellow for "maybe ready," and green for the ones I think are good to submit. And I also keep a binder of poems which were published in online journals.
For organizing in general, I do basically everything Mark indicates and more. 😞 I have probably dozens of emails I forward to myself (and re-forward) as reminders. Hyper-anal, obviously.
I started working with index cards because I heard that Ted Kooser keeps a stack of them in his shirt pocket.
Years ago, I started writing with Uniball Onyx pens because I read in an interview that these are the pens Billy Collins writes with. I admittedly got a pack of them not too long ago as a throwback.
Writers are all a bit mad as well we know.
https://www.amazon.com/Uniball-Rollerball-Supplies-Ballpoint-Colored/dp/B00006IE87/?th=1
I will NEVER give up my month-at-a-glance paper calendar (which I started using when I was still in an office environment). It's color-coordinated with pen, colored pen, colored marker, and highlighter. I can see, in a glance, how my day, my week, often my month, might play out. When things change, or we're trying to either schedule medical appoitments or travel, I can think about it more globally - and can look at many months at the ame time. I'm with you.
I LOVE it! You are definitely next level with your dedication to your planner. I wish I was that organized. I have a scary amount of daily spreadsheet, inboxes, and socials to keep up with... so it's inevitably a bit chaotic. I do know of guidance for my type of hectic though, almost humorously, I probably could have benefited from an MBA.
There was a time when life was terribly complicated - moving schedules for three people plus 24./7 caregivers. I used the wall-sized version of your desk calendar. Color coordinated. With a separate smaller paper calendar on the wall for the caregivers' schedule.
They really are very useful, especially when coordinating with someone else's schedule.
Oh, I laughed out loud!! I am anxious pre-crastinator with a three-year daily planner.
Ooh, I count that as a big win!!
❤️❤️❤️❤️