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Get Organized, Get Published!: 225 Ways to Make Time for Success

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I don't have enough time. I don't even know where to start. I don't know what to write about.

The list of excuses is endless. The remedy can be found in "Get Organized, Get Published!"

No matter what your writing experience, you've probably encountered organizational problems, time constraints and a whole host of other writing-related issues. Now you can learn how to get the most out of your day, office space and how you can make effective use of your writing sessions.

Sample chapters include:

* Finding the Time to Write

* Making Your Master Plan

* The Big Step: Getting Started

* Organizing Your Work Area

* Organizing the Writing Process Itself

* Time Management Tips for Writers

* "Just a Minute": Outwitting Interruptions

If you struggle with any aspect of your writing - whether it be a cluttered desk, personal battle with time or even if you feel creatively empty - this book is designed to give you the extra edge in your writing venture.

"Get Organized, Get Published!" is a powerful motivational tool. Each page will help you capitalize on your writing dreams. This comprehensive guide to organizational strategies contains everything you need to "Get Organized, Get Published!"

Does your writing come first or last?

Many writers like to set aside a few hours for their writing each day; they establish a schedule and stick to it religiously. A few have the luxury of writing full-time or of getting away to concentrate on their writing. They find marathon writing is more fun and avoids the challenge of getting back to the manuscript each day. Still others have to fit in their writing whenever they can.

Nat Bodian decided to write his first book in 1979. Finding time was difficult because he worked full-time as a marketer at a New York publishing house and commuted from New Jersey. He did some writing on the bus to and from New York, some was done on a pad of paper walking across Manhattan and some was done during his lunch hours. Then, evenings after his kids were in bed, he continued in a basement typing room until the wee hours of the morning and on weekends.

The Book Marketing Handbook was published by R.R. Bowker 20 months later and it is still selling. This and several more industry books led to his nomination to the Publishing Hall of Fame.

Subscribers to Writer's Digest magazine spend 12.64 hours writing each week. Beginners spend seven hours a week and advanced writers spend 30.5.

Mahatma Gandhi and Martin Luther King wrote powerful articles and books about their activities or causes while behind bars. Make effective use of your most valuable asset: your time.

Get Organized, Get Published! Is all about finding and making time for your most important project. With the authors' easy-to-attack exercises and strategies, you will discover how to write all the time, virtually anywhere. This book is packed time-management tips and secrets to help you get back to your writing.

Don Aslett is the author of 28 books on getting organized and time management.

Carol Cartaino has been an author and editor for over 30 years. Don and Carol have teamed up on books for 17 years.

As a publisher, author of 113 books (including revisions and foreign-language editions) and over 500 magazine articles and a consultant to the publishing industry, I recommend this book to wordsmiths everywhere. DanPoynter@ParaPublishing.com.

This book overflows with helpful and "do-able" advice for eliminating distractions to writing. For someone who publishes quite frequently, I hate writing and will find nearly any excuse to avoid doing so. Perry Mason re-run? Cleaning the diffusion bowls (you know, those things around the lights on the ceiling)? Nearly anything becomes more attractive than writing. Aslett and Cartaino cut away all of life's frippery to help you get down to writing.

This is a must have for anyone wishing to write a book of their own!

I've been doing book reviews for the Society for Technical Communication for about 6 years now and haven't come across a book as interesting as this one! It's very difficult to put down.

Currently, I'm writing a book of my own outside of my 40-hour writing position as a software documentation writer. I've made more headway on my personal book in the last three weeks than I have during the past year by following the tips suggested in this book. Other writers with whom I work are asking me about Don's book, as I have been taking it to meetings to read during those first few minutes that everyone is waiting for the meeting to begin.

OK, I have to admit, I am a published writer for 22 years, as a journalist and commentator. Yet, despite my many promises to myself, I have not moved myself to the stage where I can proudly add AUTHOR to my list of achievements. Why? I have enough material to publish some collected work type books, and enough ideas to put together a bunch more. But, getting organized and THINKING, ACTING (as in taking ACTION) and FOLLOWING UP in an organized manner have been my nemesis. I just read this book today and have to give the author credit for putting together an EXCELLENT resource and collection of USEFUL and USABLE ideas, tips, thoughts, and even action lists. A MUST HAVE book (and quite a bargain at the price I saw here) for anyone who is serious about writing that book he/she always wanted to - finally! Good luck.

Get Organized, Get Published is an excellent book by Cleaning and Time Management Guru Don Aslett and Carol Cartaino. The book contains tons of information on organization for the aspiring writer to the seasoned pro.

One of the greatest benefits from reading this book is the motivation it provides. When reading, you can't help but want to get to working on your writing projects. And once you get organized and get started, all you need to do is follow the advice in chapter 14 and Don't Stop!

Besides the tips, suggestions, and strategies that Aslett and Cartaino present, they have also included many quotes from published authors regarding the organization, time management, and writing strategies they have used to succeed. If just one of these gems helps you succeed, and I'm sure the combination of all the strategies in this book, if followed and acted upon, will, then the book will be worth more than its weight in gold.

I personally spent the last years focusing on law and dvds rather than writing projects. Now that my goals include doing a lot more writing, as well as more dvds and audio programs, this book is an excellent resource to Get More Organized and Get More Published. The motivation from this book will get me back to the keyboard, and the organization and time management strategies will ensure I reach my writing goals.
Thanks Don and Carol for a great book!

Reviewed by Alain Burrese, J.D., author of Hard-Won Wisdom From The School of Hard Knocks.

This is one of those books I wish I'd been able to get at the library instead of spending the money. I'm always on the lookout for productivity books -- I'm right-brained, so I have to dig for tips that fit how I need to organize. This book was recommended to me by another right-brained writer, and it was also one of the few productivity books that deals with the needs of writers. I did expect it to be more about freelancing than writing fiction (what I do), which it was. But, because of the writer's recommendation, I didn't expect it to be as focused on left-brained techniques as it was.

The book takes us through topics like finding time to write, organizing research, organizing your office, and organizing your writing process. Finding time to write is a good topic and worth reading. With organizing research, I was actually a little disappointed. Having recently realized I didn't know how to research and taking the time to learn how, I was expecting well, better material on research. That's where the freelancer focus got in the way -- it was all on people contacts, not on books, which is where most of us should start if we're writing a novel. Organizing Your Office assumes you have a full room to devote to writing. Sorry, but I have a desk in the dining room. That's it. It would have been nice to have more than a few cursory tips at the end.

Organizing your writing process: The book starts this section by saying that these techniques can be applied to non-fiction and fiction. That's not really true -- and the book's focus goes immediately to what the writer knows best, non-fiction. So nothing for the novelists other than the reference and one quote from a novelist. But I was ready to put the book down when this section started talking about outlining. I can't outline. Now what? There's nothing for me in this section, nothing at all, and not only that, the book tends to promote as if you'll never get a book done if you don't outline. Other tips like putting one chapter in one folder were scary -- I tried that and it turned into a horrible disaster. Not everything works for everyone.

So if you're right-brained, this book isn't for you.

This book really motivated me, gave me ideas of what I need to read up on, and I am now constantly writing and reading the other recommended books.