Friday, March 19, 2010

MY OWN SYSTEM

Years ago I had no type of filing system, but just stuck paperwork into a manila folder and stuck it in a drawer. I usually wrote on the outside of it "research". Because that's what it was. Every time I researched a character, or a town for a particular scene I was trying to create, I added another manila folder, and again wrote on the cover, research. Well, you can imagine how frustrated I would become pulling out all those folders with research written on the cover. So one day, I went to a thrift store and found a filing cabinet. I came home with a couple boxes of hanging file folders and set out to organize my files. Today I have a file for everything. My husband gets so upset with me when he tries to find anything in those files. I have two big file cabinets in my office. One drawer holds personal receipts and the other drawers and file cabinet contains my writing "stuff". My husband, to my knowledge has never filed anything. Whenever he has something he wants filed, he lays it on my desk, knowing if I don't have a file for it, I'll make one. A few days ago he was looking for an insurance quote. I was busy writing, so he didn't want to disturb me. However I choose to believe it is a man thing and related to his "never stop to get directions gene". He was pulling papers out dropping them on the floor, laying them on the top of the filing cabinet, and finally in frustration asked me where I thought I would have filed the paperwork. I smiled, knowing just where I "stuck" that one. He said, "Why are you grinning." "Well, sweetie, you aren't going to believe this, but that particular piece of paper is filed under the agents ex-wife's brother's name." It works for me.

6 comments:

Joylene Nowell Butler said...

You are too funny! Thank, Katt!

Kathryn Neff Perry, PhD, MA, LMHC said...

Thanks Joy!

Jodie said...

That is one awesome filing system. I'm a firm believer in three-ring binders myself... :-)

Karen Lange said...

Hey, everybody's got to file their stuff the way they know they can find it:)
Happy weekend,
Karen

Carol J. Garvin said...

You would have gotten along well with my mother. My father was a contractor and she was his secretary. When he couldn't find a particular customer's file he'd ask her, and she'd quickly pull it out for him. "It's all filed alphabetically," she'd say, and eventually he discovered her system. "Mr. Adam Ziegler", "Mr. Brook Dunn", "Mr. Charles Smith", "Mr. David Jones", "Mrs. Alice White", "Mrs. Bea Black", "Mrs. Candace Baird", etc. It would have driven me nuts but it made perfect sense to her. Their titles and first names were all part of the names as far as she was concerned! LOL

Kathryn Neff Perry, PhD, MA, LMHC said...

Jodie, Karen and Carol, I told my husband it's "job security"---he needs me! lol
Love you all
Katt---have a wonderful weekend