As every good writer knows, writing compelling content is essential to being a great writer. But that is really only half of your job description—the rest of your time is spent managing deadlines, keeping track of client invoicing, and brainstorming and researching topic ideas so you are ready to be efficient with your actual writing time. Without good organization for these essential and less-than-glamorous tasks, it can be difficult to make a living as a writer.
To make life a little easier, we compiled a list of some of our favorite resources and writing tools to help our fellow creatives become more organized and manage the background tasks better.
Implement a few (or all of these) so you can spend more time on what you love to do, writing and less time on everything else.
Tool #1: Asana — Manage Deadlines and Client Communication
No matter what type of content you are creating, if you are not using a project management tool to communicate and plan your project like Asana, you are missing out on an opportunity to be much more organized.
We love using Asana specifically as a client project management tool because you can easily add your clients to your project board and communicate within the board quickly.
You can plan and track tasks, add notes specific to certain tasks, stay up-to-date on deadlines, and respond to questions within the board. It is a great tool to keep everyone up to date without clogging up valuable email inbox space.
Asana can also be useful if you are managing multiple moving parts on your own writing projects. Keep track of deadlines for book submissions to editors, printing and design work, or just writing goals for yourself to keep on task.
Tool #2: Grammarly — Make the Most of Your Writing Time
Get a second set of eyes to review all of your work before you send it to your client. Grammarly has a free tool that instantly checks for both spelling and grammar mistakes, which is extremely helpful for quick proofreading on your text. Don’t send in another document that has common usage errors such as mistaking their, there, or they’re on them again.
We love how easy it is to link Grammarly to your web browser, so you can receive edits and suggestions in real time. Because why add more steps to your editing process if you don’t have to?
Tool #3: Paper Calendar — Keep Track of Your Goals
Keep a weekly calendar to plan out the tasks you need to get done each week, but for your day to day tasks we love spending 5 minutes at the start of your day to jot down only your biggest, attainable goals for the day.
These Ugmonk analog cards are perfect for setting up your week and also prioritizing your must-dos for the day so it can be both manageable and successful. If you can get those done you know your day was a success and you can either take a much-needed break or get moving to a new set of tasks for the week!
Tool #4: Freshbooks — Invoice Efficiently
Whether you are writing as a freelancer full-time, or just doing a few writing projects here and there, having an easy-to-use invoicing and payments platform can help ensure you get paid timely for your work. Freshbooks is one of our favorite tools because it is geared toward small businesses and is extremely user-friendly.
Freshbooks makes it easy to create professional-quality invoices with their premade templates, it allows your clients to pay instantly in their preferred method, and it also makes it easy to collect and log business expenses throughout the year.
As any freelancer knows (or will come to know) invoicing is only one step of the process to get paid. Following up and reminding clients of deadlines can be one of your more tedious, yet necessary tasks.
Freshbooks makes it easier with client payment reminders, the option for upfront payments, and also an easy-to-use retainer system that can help streamline payments from monthly ongoing projects so you can focus more on your work and less on collecting payments.
Plus, your accountant will be thankful for how organized your business finances have been maintained when you are ready for tax time with Freshbooks’ easy-to-access reports.
Get your TWL Freshbooks primer right here.
Tool #5: Freshbooks — Track Your Time
We love the Freshbooks time-tracking app since it is easy to use, editable, and built into the rest of the software. It is so easy to under (or over) estimate the amount of time you spend working on a project, so keeping track of your time with an app is important. Even if you are not billing by the hour, you should know the time you have dedicated to a project so you can set proper expectations with yourself and your clients and even adjust your pricing structure if you need to.
Tool #6: Moleskine — Organize Your Ideas
While using a pen and notebook may seem like you are going backward in your productivity, there are few ways that can inspire creativity and jumpstart project brainstorming like pulling out a quality pen and notebook and jotting down notes by hand. Skip out on those cheap spiral ring notebooks that you associate with being in middle school, but instead invest in quality notebooks with quality paper. We love the feel and look of a Moleskine notebook and prefer pens that are pleasant to write with, but don’t bleed through your paper.
Tool #7: Spotify — Have Your Playlists Ready
Are you inspired by classical music while writing or are you more of a coffee-house-mix type of person? Listening to soothing music can increase concentration, reduce distraction, and have a calming effect, which is a perfect combination for writing.
Instead of choosing new music each time, save a couple of go-to mixes that you can turn on when you sit down to write. Look for music that is soothing, doesn’t cause you to stop and sing, but upbeat enough to inspire you to focus on your writing.
Take a look at Classical New Releases for a great instrumental playlist that is updated each Friday or Your Favorite Coffeehouse that will transport you to an inspiring writing space.
Tool #8: Trusty Bag — Stay Physically Organized
As a writer you may not go to an office every day, but that doesn’t mean you can’t benefit from having a high quality work bag to keep you and your writing materials organized. Choose a bag that is easy to carry, fits your style, and big enough that you can easily fit your laptop, notebook, a small bag for pencils, pens and highlighters, and a snack and water bottle.
Only use your bag for writing materials, so you are always ready to get to work whether that is from a designated home office, the kitchen table, or a local coffee shop. One of our favorite benefits of having a bag is when you need a little creative inspiration and want to switch up your scenery, you are ready to go without a second thought.
For a classic and rugged leather look that comes with an adjustable carrying strap, we’d suggest this messenger bag from Fossil. For a sleek and sustainable bag, take a look at this Rothy’s essential tote.
Start getting more organized by adding just one of these tools to your writing routine.
If you are excited to get more organized as a writer, try adding in one new organizational tool to start and master before adding in more.
Building effective routines that help manage your writing can take time, but it is worth it so you can make more time for writing engaging content for yourself and your clients.Think about where you are struggling and start there.