The Crazy Organizational Fiend in Me

June is just about over…just one more day and then we’re moving on into July, where I’ll be busy with a new writing project along with the time I’ll need to continue with revisions on the third novel in my mystery series and also to complete my Series Bible to help me stay on task when I begin the fourth book in the series this winter.

There’s something about preparing for a new project that makes me want to remove the clutter around me.  If I don’t, it will constantly distract me and remind me of the other stuff I need to take care of when I’m not writing.  It’s a distraction I can do without so for the past few weeks, I’ve been very focused on organizing the clutter.

Or hiding it, whatever works best in the moment.

Overall, I’m happy with the progress I’ve made the past few weeks…

I updated my scrapbook so that I don’t have to look at the pile of memorabilia any longer, and I’ll try to keep up with it as new memorabilia needs to be added to the book;

I organized all my scrapbook material so that those items now have a proper home and are no longer piled on my bedroom floor;

I’ve done my best to work around the rainy weather we’ve been having lately so that my gardens are looking nice and only need a little TLC every couple of days to keep the weeds away;

I tracked down items in various rooms that are taking up space but that don’t really have a purpose or that I’m tired of looking at and I’ve put them away to either donate or make use of in some other way;

I finally went through the large stack of school paperwork my son dumped on my desk and I found some good stuff to add to his high school portfolio; and

I even cleaned out the “school drawer” – this is a large drawer in my roll top desk that was completely overflowing with pens, pencils, paper, notebooks, glue, erasers and rulers.  You know, all those school items you tend to buy every year while forgetting how many you had purchased and was still unused from the year before.  I’m now fairly certain we won’t need many, if any, supplies for this next year.

But the biggest task I took on to get organized was my office…I had to do something that I’ve been putting off for quite awhile now.  My writing books and notebooks and other material has been sharing space with all my investigative books and notebooks and other material and I finally realized, I need to let the writing side of my life take over where my office is concerned.  I’ll still use some of the investigative books and other material but a lot of it is outdated or can be stored away or even thrown away altogether.  To be honest, it was a difficult task since I’m shedding what has been an important part of my life for so long.  But as I continue to work on my books, I need to have in my writing space what will keep me focused and inspired. 

Now that I’ve just about organized most of the clutter around me, there is nothing to distract me from the upcoming writing project I’ll tackle during the month of July at Camp NaNo (more on that later), while I also finish with revisions on Ties that Bind.   

Okay, I know there will still be a distraction or two (July 4^th is coming up!), but at least it’s a start!