by Simon Wright

Created on: February 09, 2007   Last Updated: February 11, 2010

Having your work efficiently organized on your computer is of immeasurable value to writers. It saves a lot of time and effort when it comes to accessing previous items at a later point in time. This will be especially the case for prolific writers who have accumulated a large portfolio of writing over a long period of time.

When we start writing, the temptation is often to create a catch-all folder category of "Writing", into which we place all our writing, no matter what category of writing it is or what publication it was aimed at. This can be an okay temporary solution but you will soon find that you have a very unruly folder that makes it difficult to reference prior pieces in a timely fashion.

Let's look, then, at how you can create an effective easy-to-manage folder system on your computer. The first thing to say is that there is no one-size-fits-all solution. What works best for you will depend on your individual circumstances, including such things as the type of writing that you do. However, with that in mind, here is a solution that you can use as a starting point.

Level 1 folder entitled Writing:

I find that it's useful to keep all my writing separate from other things that I store on my computer, such as financial folders, work folders, etc. I would therefore recommend that you create a folder entitled "Writing". If there's more than one person using the computer, you might want to include your name, e.g. "Susan's Writing".

Level 2 folders, split by type of writing:

I write articles, short stories, novels, poems, song lyrics and comedy sketches. Given this breadth of writing, I find it useful to split my folders out by these categories. This means that, at a glance, I can scroll through all my comedy sketches without the nuisance of having to look for them amongst various other types of writing.

This approach should work for many people. However, it may not be as useful if you specialise in just one type of writing. If that's the case then you may want to skip this folder level and go onto the next one that I've detailed below.

Level 3 folders, split either by year or by publication or sub-category:

Having already ordered my writing by the category of writing, my personal choice is then to split it by the year it was written in. I find this useful as I can then see how productive I have been during a year.

However, an alternative approach might be to split by publication or sub-category. So, within your articles,

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