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	Your Writer's Notebook
	by Susan Molthop

Revised August 3, 2007

I've never been satisfied with the structure of my journals and notebooks, so I thought it might be a good time to reorganize.

The first thing to remember is that everyone does it differently (Duh!). Regardless of what format you use, the following ideas should be useful.

Be sure to have a section for "key words" so you can return to these entries at will.

Put keywords at the top of each entry. That way a computer search will take you to the beginning of the topic.

Put a special character at the beginning of each key word, so you won't get random occurances when you search. Example: "*plot," instead of just "plot."

If you keep hardcopy notebooks, this idea still works. Use color-coded highlighters on your key words instead of special characters.

Create a Table of Contents for your notebooks. This not only makes it easier to find your entries, but it helps keep you focused. If your TOC heading says "Sally Jane," but the journal entry wanders off into a description of a sunset, restricting and rewriting that part could be a valuable exercise.
Note: Be sure to keep the original. That sunset might come in handy somewhere else.
Note: A good wordprocessor will create a TOC for you -- check it out.

Create a master index. If your notebooks aren't on the computer, you'll need a flexible page numbering system. One option is to number your notebooks in outline format. Use Roman numerals for the volumes, capital letters for the sections, and integers for the pages. If you need to insert pages, use small letters after the page number. Example: Vol. II, section B, page 4a (II-B-4a could be the index entry).

Note: If you use a manual system, you might still want to create your index on the computer. Any good wordprocessor, spreadsheet, cardfile, or database program will sort, and that's basically all you need. As with the TOC, a good wordprocessor can generate an index for you, if your notebooks are on the computer.

If you do the index, manually, it may be sufficient to alphabetize the first letter only, so you don't drive yourself crazy rewriting it every time you add something new.

Hint: When you're struggling with writer's block, working on your index and TOC can be good exercises to get the creative juices flowing again.

Keep a separate file for clippings and notes. I use an open-ended, alphabetical, accordion folder (used in offices for fast sorting). I have a cross-reference sheet at the beginning of each letter, for those hard-to-categorize items. This is an ongoing project I work on when I need ideas. If you're REALLY organized, these should be referenced in your notebook.