One of my biggest problems as a writer is organization. Not organizing within my work, but organizing my work. I stacked up a clothes basket of papers over the last year. I started trying to sort it several times. One time I covered my bed with stacks, another time the dining table. Each time I ended up having to put the stacks back in the basket before I was done.

I know some people celebrate Christmas in July; well, I’m making resolutions in August, even if the year is more than half over. I’m vowing to keep my papers in order.

I’m going to divide and conquer. It’s worked for me before. I just got extra busy this last year and didn’t get the tools I needed when I needed them and then found the task too overwhelming to face.

Summer is the time for me to get organized.

Traditional Dividers work well for separating sets of drafts with feedback from critique workshops.

31 Tabs are perfect for the months I participate in poem-a-day groups.

Alphabetical tabs help me keep track of the poems written during the year. Yes, searching for a title in my computer is likely faster, but flipping through printouts has benefits similar to reading a print edition of a newspaper over reading news online.