by Lisa Shaver

Created on: July 06, 2009   Last Updated: July 08, 2009

Whether you write for professional reasons or purely for fun, the world of writing is a creative mess at the best of times. Ideas flow through your head faster than water comes out of the tap. Research notes, character profiles, and memos with phone calls you need to return later pile up and get forgotten or lost in the twilight zone known as your office.

Organization. This one word has a lot of impact on our function ability. Believe it or not, it can also allow us to write faster. My home office is where I do most of my writing. When the office is a mess, I simply stare at the screen with writer's block laughing its ugly head off at my lack of material being written. The piles and folders lying around make me unable to concentrate on the work I am trying to get done. When the office has its halo on straight and everything is put away, I can get more writing done in one hour than I can in one day if the office is a mess.

To-Do List. We make to-do lists for everything. For our daily tasks, for our children, and for work. I have two lists in my office. My daily work to-do list which has answer emails and pick up folders, or whatever it is that I need to get done that day. Then there is my writing to-do list, which lists what I need to get done that done and what I want to get done that day.

Goals. Set a goal for the amount of either pages or words that you want to write in a day. In the morning, after I have gone over my to-do lists for the day, I set a goal based on what I need to complete. I then tape this list on the shelf above my door so that I have a reminder. For instance:

6am - 7am - 150 words (my summer schedule is different due to the kids being out of school)

9am - 12pm - 300 words

2pm -3pm -150 words

So, on an average day, I am writing six hundred words unless my time is needed elsewhere that day. During the school year it is easier for me to stick to a schedule than it is with the children home full time during the day in the summer. The children do know that when mom is writing we do not interrupt her unless there is an unusual amount of blood coming from one of their siblings and a band-aid just won't do. Also, this is not set in stone. IF an emergency comes up or you write more words than you set as your goal, that is OK. Some days you will get more done and some days you won't. Eventually this all balances out and your assignment still gets completed. Hopefully on time even.

Typing. As writers we tend to type all day long, or until our

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