Since I moved into a two bedroom apartment from my big house, I have been constantly battling getting organized.  I brought too much stuff with me.  Plus, I began painting again which only added to my storage problem.

My second bedroom is filled with books and more books, art supplies, 18 bankers’ boxes of resource material from my published books, a drawing table, office supplies, an office chair, a recliner, computer table, computer, special lights for my drawing table, etc.  What I needed was an area where I could just focus on my writing – a writer’s cove.

My desktop

First, I tackled my desktop and I removed everything that did not pertain to my writing.  I often had to get up and search for a pen or pencil.  So, I stocked up and filled an old coffee mug with a dozen pens and pencils.  I added a small note pad, ruler and highlighters. Then, I thought about the reference books I often use while writing.  That was the biggest clue I needed to get organized.  Thirty minutes later, I finally found all of them. I had a bad habit of leaving them where I last used them.

Reference Books

I had nine reference books and that was too many. I needed to prioritize.  After looking over my choices, I determined I needed five reference books on my desk: The Synonym Finder by J. Rodale’s; A Pocket Style Manual by Diana Hacker; Roget’s Descriptive Word Finder by Barbara Ann Kipfer; Banish Boring Words! by Leilen Shelton; Longman Dictionary of Contemporary English. I know that Word has a dictionary and thesaurus included in its program, but I often need more options.  Also, good verbs are the key to good writing and even though Banish Boring Words! is written for children, it’s a great resource for everyone.

Results

When I finished gathering things, I surveyed my writer’s cove and liked the amount of white space I had uncovered.  My current project is revising and updating my biography of George Eastman, the founder of Kodak. I put my book holder back next to my computer and placed the Eastman manuscript in it.

There were still a few problems.  I had two bankers’ boxes of resource material I needed to have accessible while I revised the Eastman manuscript.  I didn’t want to clutter up the white space on my desk, so I placed a TV tray on my left side up against my table.  I would use it to lay out what I was reviewing from the storage boxes and file back the material before pulling more information.  Then, I sat the bankers’ boxes on top of a large a storage box on my right side.  That way I didn’t have to bend down to sort through them.

I liked the setup but I knew I needed something to keep me on track.  Above my desk is a bulletin board where I post my weekly goals. I needed to be more specific.  On a white sheet of paper, in big bold letters, I typed out my project title and a deadline.  Then I posted the sheet in the middle of my bulletin board.

 Do you have a writer’s cove?  How did you set it up?  What are your favorite reference books?