Organizing and Organic Organization

An example of organic organizing.

Organizing can be the bane of the creative person. We all generate a lot of ideas and with those ideas comes a lot of--stuff. Writers are awash in paper, artists too and musician's and photographer's and film maker's and dancer's lives are overflowing with the tools of their trade.

How to organize? Here's one way that works for a lot of creative people because it is organic. It grows with materials. Which is why daisies are a good example of organic organizing: they cluster. They grow out from the clusters, adding flowers from the central bed.

Organic organizing is putting like with like, associated with associated, clustering the items together. All paint brushes together in cans in a group. All scenes in one w.i.p. in files that are in the same group. All cameras together in one area or box. It's a more relaxed way of organizing that often works for creative people.

One main drawback: like daisies, organic organizing can overrun everything else. By adding and adding the organization can lose all meaning. (In daisies, they get too tight together and begin to die at the center.) So this is a loose and general organizing method than will need "thinning" from time to time.

What do you think? Would this type of organizing work for you? Or just add to the mess? Do you have a system that does work? If so, please share!

Maass Intensive, Switching Formats, Marketing and Contests

These seems like a lot of subjects. It isn't. It's the same subject. And it goes like this:

Donald Maass' High Tension Workshop was for novel writing. That doesn't matter. Why? Because it translates to all kinds of writing.

It's useful to switch formats. Trying something new and different can increase your ability in your regular writing. It's a challenge. It's also a way to re-energize your regular writing.

Writing for good contests (real prizes/awards, no entry or low entry fee, with a reputable publisher/group) can be another way to challenge and stimulate your writing.

If you pick a good contest to submit to and win a prize, this can help the marketing of your other work. And sometimes your other endeavors.

Which all brings me to a touch of BSP: I entered Tokyopop's "The Dreaming Writing Competition" and won First Prize! This is useful for a couple of reasons. First, my new w.i.p. is for YA Fantasy and writing a Manga style short story is related. Second, I'm teaching a class at the True North Creative Learning Center in August about--you guessed it--writing manga. Again for the YA market. Plus, I get cool artwork!

So readers, what do you think? About switching formats? About contests, pro or con?

Happy Fourth!!

Happy Fourth of July!

Okay, what are photos of wildflowers doing on a post about the Fourth of July?

These photos are of wildflowers growing on the Oregon Trail, where pioneers walked, lived and died in order to realize their dreams.

The flowers grow wild and free.

What better way to wish everyone a wild and free day?