If you can't measure it, you can't manage it

My computer is full of recorded ideas that have not been fleshed out, projects that are halfway finished, or finished and looking for a home. Sound familiar?

As a member of a writer's group, I've found the support and encouragement I need to work on/finish these projects, and I'm making progress. But recently, it seems like my computer hides files and documents that contain the perfect paragraph or description of a sunset or character sketch I know I wrote, but can't find.

Earlier this year a writer friend asked for advice regarding which project to work on next. He had made a list of the projects, and determined that the simple act of making a list helped him organize the tasks at hand. Viewing his options meant that he could measure them, and then manage them.

I decided to follow his example, and realized that naming them and placing them in one folder titled WIP (Work in Progress), also made me feel more organized. I discovered that I have seven major projects I'm working on, and my list looks like this:

Novel 1 Contemporary - Finished but not polished
Novel 2 Eco thriller - Plot hole problem that I recently solved but haven't actually written
Short Stories - A bunch, one in particular that I just figured out how to finish, and another one with a complete plot, but needs more depth and emotion
Poetry - Way more than I realized, with one group/collection going out in a few days
Nonfiction article/book 1 - Women's History
Nonfiction article/blog/book 2 - Minimalism
Nonfiction book/article/blog 3 - Education/Teaching

My work has been divided into the seven writing projects listed above, coincidentally, one for each day of the week. I made a folder for each one and inserted all pertinent files, which took much longer than I thought.

All of the projects are rather lengthy except some of the short stories, which I'm close to finishing. I don't always work on a regular schedule, and don't necessarily start one project and work until it's finished. I tend to jump back and forth between projects.

If I have an hour, I can pick one and knock off some writing that puts me closer to my goals, instead of spending time trying to find that perfect description of a sunset I know I put somewhere. Adding five pages a week to any of these projects means 260 more pages at the end of the year.

If I don't write, I can submit to literary journals or promote something on social media. There is no shortage of projects, so there is no shortage of work to be done. But now that I can measure it, I can manage it.

Mary Horner is a certified medical writer, teaches communications at St. Louis and St. Charles Community Colleges, and earned the writing certificate from UM-St. Louis.