by Elizabeth S. Craig, @elizabethscraig
It’s usually around this time of year that I decide that I’ve got to do some decluttering. I think that’s because it’s tax time and I’m rounding up documents and receipts.
The desk is a must-tackle because not only does it have most of the stuff I need for the tax return, it’s also full of a hodgepodge of writing-related papers that need to be sorted.
After that’s done, I usually start in with the computer. It’s got to be done. Usually my computer to-do list looks like this:
Back up. Especially if I haven’t lately. (I do back up my writing every day, but am not as great about backing up photos, etc.)
The blog. What’s in my sidebar that doesn’t need to be there? Are all the pages on my blog updated? (No, they’re not, and I haven’t gotten to this item on my list yet, as is obvious!) Back up the blog…it’s important. I’ve known several people who have lost their blogs.
Google Reader. I subscribe to 2,290 blogs, but sometimes I’ll need to unsubscribe to feeds. The blogger might have moved to another blog or another provider. The best way to clean up your Google Reader is to click on “trends” on the left hand column, and then click the tab that says “inactive.” I click “top 40,” since I subscribe to so many. Then I click the trashcan icon to clear out the blogs that haven’t been updated in ages.
My bio. Yes, I’ve had two releases since the thing was last updated. I updated it.
My website. I do try to update my website monthly, but it also needed more updating (the new releases strike again.)
Email deleting and setting up filters and folders to organize incoming mail. We all get gobs and gobs of emails. I set up folders for specific types of emails (“family,” “store ads/coupons,” “publisher,”) and set up filters for the emails to go directly into the folders. I unsubscribe to newsletters that no longer interest me. I block and delete junk mail.
Change passwords. Another important chore. Getting hacked is no fun…no one wants to send spam or viruses to all their contacts. I always stay pretty current with this chore.
Word files. Delete old drafts of WIPs, create folders and add documents pertaining to a particular WIP to one folder.
Do you stay up-t0-date with this kind of stuff? Or do you need to set up a special time to tackle it (like I usually do.) What other kinds of writerly things do you organize?
Image: Morgue File: earl53
Elizabeth – What a good idea to go through and de-clutter. I’ve learned the hard way about backing things up, and you’re also right about going through one’s website and blog roll and making sure it’s all up-to-date. I also try to test links I’ve made to other blogs and resources and make sure they’re ‘live.’ I think the more clean and professional a website/blog looks, the more readers will enjoy being there.
Hi Elizabeth .. very timely post – as I’ll be taking a little while off and chores are on my list .. and your checklist here really helps ..
Cheers Hilary
E –
You say it just as I need to do it. Yet another very helpful prod from you – this time on “cleaning up my act” in a good way. I’m going to spend some time the next three days making those changes necessary to be “efficient.” Great tips.
Oh – tip for you. John Thompson has a book : _The Merchants of Culture_ which has some great info on the current state of publishing. I knew you were interested and I found this last weekend. Great read. There is a ton of internal company management information and the consolidation factor implications which we should all know. Just passing it on …
J
I’m pretty up to speed on my website bio. My Google reader list is in desperate need of trimming, however.
After an issue with a corrupted external hard drive, I’ve had to start looking at what things I need to back up.
Great list of writerly chores. I back up regularly. My problem is making myself clean up files of various revisions.
My physical files are organized, but my computer could use some cleaning. Every time I pound down through about a dozen folders to the one I need I think about making some adjustments.
New releases strike again!
Oh that made me laugh. The woes of having new books! You must be so upset, hahaha
I’ve cleaned up my side bars but that’s about it. I know what I’m doing this weekend. And definitley worth a Tweet!
These are so important. I’m going to take this list and write it down.
I back up my blog once a month and my files once a week. (On three externals and two thumb drives – one can never be too careful!)
Decluttering? Yikes. I find it REALLY hard to declutter…but you’re right, it needs to be done.
Margot–Good tip. Yes, running a dead-link check (there are websites that will do that for us) is a great idea.
Hilary–Hope it helps!
Paul–Yeah, my Google Reader was a total disaster. When a pop-up from Google told me that I had too many subscriptions for the app to work the way it was intended to, I decided some spring (winter?) cleaning was in order.
Diane–And that’s really something else we could do. Have sub-folders. Or organize folder views by date last worked on instead of alphabetically.
Callie–Ha! :) I know…and they happen about 4 times a year! Yeah, I’ve got problems other people don’t have…LOL. And then, if I don’t update, I have this awful feeling my publisher is pulling up my site and going, “Okay, well, she promoted that *other* series…where’s our book? Why is she dropping the ball?”
j –Great! Hope it’ll make a difference for you. I love that just-organized feeling.
“The Merchants of Culture” sounds fabulous! Thanks for the recommendation. I’d love to find out what’s going on from the inside of the industry. And since my publisher is now Penguin-Random House (just approved by the D0J yesterday), that book should be mandatory reading for me.
Stephen–Thanks so much! :)
Clarissa–Good luck with it!
Alex–Yes! I use several methods, too. I’ve lost 2 external hard drives, so you can’t be too careful.
Teresa–Me too. I always think I might need a discarded draft later (I never do…)
Tessa–It’s not my favorite thing to do, but once I’m finished I have that great sense of accomplishment. :)
I keep up, for the most part, with all the things you mentioned. That’s mainly due to my borderline OCD…of course, my wife would argue on the “borderline” adjective…but, still…
Great point on passwords….it never hurts to change them, from time to time.
Thanks for the total guilt trip. I just had a PC crash and although I did get my files back, I need to have a better backup plan in place. And get rid of so much stuff I don’t really need in the first place. When we were putting the computer back together, I took everything off my desk, but I have yet to sort it all.
Let’s not talk about taxes.
Mark–We’re just Type A, not OCD! That’s my story, and I’m sticking with it. :)
Yep, those passwords do need frequent changing. And I make sure I don’t use the same password twice or for two different sites.
Terry–If you’re on gmail, and I think you are, then you can use free Google Drive to back up (if you’re not nervous about putting your stuff on a cloud.) Then email it to yourself (again, on a cloud.) Then USB. Good to have a few different methods and it’s free and not hard to do.
Taxes. :) Yes, I do those super-early. I used to get a refund and that was good motivation for me. Before Amazon started sending untaxed money my way… now we pay! But still, I’d rather get it over with, ugh.
The easiest way to de-clutter is to have a hard disk crash on you! It happened to me last year and there went all my old emails. Luckily, I didn’t miss them so I learned a useful truth: deal with, delete or file away your emails as soon as they arrive.
Another trick, obvious to some, is to set up rules so messages from certain addresses get automatically shifted into folders. I once subscribed to more than 100 Yahoo forums (by email not RSS) and message rules were the only way I could stay sane.
Oh, boy. I need to do that! Great reminder!
Oh my. I’m such a mess & was (almost) fine with it until you shined the light for my inner perfectionist to see that I had conquered my OCD. Now the guilt is piling on.
So many blogs, feeds from all over the place, emails to sort into proper folders and files all willy-nilly in Word…
Thanks for another great post, Elizabeth.
i just went through my blog too and cleaned it up, then decided just to do the whole thing in a different template! ha!
Jennifer– Good luck!
Nadia–It’s easy for things to get a little chaotic, isn’t it?
Tammy–You’ve done better than me! I’m terrified to change my template and I should since Blogger has technically discontinued it. :)