Is your workspace cluttered with paperÐdrafts, articles, galleys, ideas, clips, letters, contracts, cartoons, financial records? If so, you're not alone. Like you, many writers swim in paperwork. Their desks are obliterated by manuscripts, notes, and outlines. Stacks of folders perch precariously atop their monitors.

With real-life anecdotes, humor, and quotes from professional writers, File...Don't Pile!® For People Who Write takes a fresh look at the special needs of writers. Freelancers, short-story writers, novelists, reporters, journalists, researchers, and anyone else who needs help managing paper can follow the proven, five-step File...Don't Pile!® plan for getting organized.

This book . . .

• Provides a step-by-step plan.
• Uses real-life anecdotes from writers.
• Relates organizational style to personality type.
• Approaches the topic with clear graphics, light cartoons, humor, encouragement, and empathy.
• Offers a long-term system that can work for anyone.

We surveyed over 300 writers about their paper problems. Here's a sampling:

I can't trust myself to put things in their proper places...I'll forget to do something important if I file it away. The result is "urgent action" papers piled all over every available horizontal surface.

A file for me is stacking things on top of each other. I've been in this house two years, and I have two years worth of papers on my desk...soon I'm going to be choked out of my room.

My urge to get it together invariably...begins with the purchase of yet another organizer. You name it, I have bought it. Colorful files, multiple date books, calendars, a wall of pigeonholes, a thousand color-coded stickers, in-and-out boxes. -Ellen Goodman

My writing piles fill whatever size desk I have. When I was little, I could obliterate my school desk. Now, my eight-footer vanishes.

Things are so bad that when someone calls for information, I say, "Oh there's someone at my door, can I call you back?" Then I initiate a wild search through the piles in my rooms, rummage through the magazine rack, check the kitchen counter. If I'm lucky, I find what I need-the person at the door magically disappears.

I misplaced a certified check for $6000. I knew I had put it in a safe, flat place, but couldn't remember where. Five months later I found it tucked under the cloth on the dining room table.

I write in our small living room. When company comes, I stuff my writing papers in bags and hide them. One evening my husband asked me to show our guests something I'd written. Imagine his surprise when I went to the bathroom to get it. He didn't know I'd filed it in the shower!

I make excuses for my messiness. I say I'm disorganized because I'm very right brained. That makes it sound logical.

Ten Keys to the File . . . Don't Pile!® System

1. Know the SECRET to paper control.
2. Ask eight key questions about paper.
3. Discover the magic of the Paperdex.
4. Develop tools to track your writing.
5. Maintain your system.
6. Make a plan for each project.
7. Track your finances.
8. Rethink your workspace.
9. Know your personality type.
10. Discover how FDP can help you.

• Create a system, not gadgets.
• Limit incoming paper.
• Keep only one calendar.
• Think vertically, not horizontally.
• Use vicinities.
• Photocopy wallet contents.
• Give each paper an address.