Organization

I don't do a lot of guest blogs, but I do enough that this summer when my organizational system failed (Verizon somehow deleted ALL of my messages...thanks for that, btw.) I missed things. I missed deadlines to submit blogs. I lost emails that had addresses of contest winners. I missed going to blogs that had already been submitted to answer comments and chat.

My system of depending on old emails to remind me was a ... bad one.

And as a former legal secretary (back in the days when legal secretaries did a lot of paralegal work and kept track of EVERYTHING in a case) I hung my head in shame.

So I thought back to those days and set up a calendar/schedule system that wouldn't fail. And I put it on paper. No more system fail for me. (Thanks again, Verizon) But also, I created a Book of Everything.

Every password
Every reviewer
Every blog appearance
Every contest I'm hosting
Every winner of those contests
With check marks that tell me if I've sent the books!
LOL

I have birthdays in the book
Twitter handles for people I don't normally tweet but might someday want to
I have notes on how to use Goodreads
I have a list of contacts for workshops (emails of course)
And contacts for blogs

I have a list of people who make covers for self-pubbing
And a list of people who edit
People who format

You know...rather than go on and on...Let's just say I have lots of lists. They are my memory (in some respects), not because I'm slow and dull, but because it's easier to have a book I can lay my hands on to find just about anything I want, rather than have to stand for five minutes trying to remember how to do something or find someone.

I know there are probably better, more technologically advanced ways to do this, but have one computer crash and you'll be glad you have a Book of Everything!

Anyway, my point is...

We no longer get to write a book, revise the book, read the AA's and cross our fingers, hoping for sales. We have to do a lot of things. I started off my career being reasonably organized but technology crept up on me and one day I woke up realizing I was so far behind I might not ever get caught up. And I had to go to work on promoting myself and using social media. Everyday I learn something but at least now I don't forget what I learned!

So, though you don't have to create a paper notebook like mine, you should have some systems in place. At the very least, you need a list of passwords (which you probably don't want in your computer), along with a list of email contacts and a solid calendar that doesn't just keep track of things, it comes with reminders about a week before things are due!

It's never too early to have a contact list, a blog list, a reviewer list. Start them now before you're on book #50 and you'll have smooth sailing long before I did. LOL

Happy Monday

susan