Where Your Writing Lives Matters
How I keep track of and store all my drafts, pieces, and ideas 🏡
One of the first questions I was asked when I started this newsletter was, “How do you store everything you write? Where do you keep it? What do you write it in?”
The honest answer is: Lots of places. Each notebook, computer document, or app I write in serves its own purpose. I like to visualize each as a type of dwelling—apartment, house, vacation home, etc.—to determine and describe its purpose.
This is essential for me. I have approximately one million (this is hyperbole) little shards and drafts of things, so keeping track of them without a system would be a little crazy! I’m going to walk you through this system of mine, but this is in no way prescriptive. It is simply descriptive, and if any of this works for you, great! But everyone has their own way to organize their writing, and I think it would be fabulous if you would share your system (if you have one) with us in the comments.
So without further ado, here is where my writing lives.
Count the Good Journals
The Childhood Home
This is where the memories live. I talk about the history behind my Count the Good Journals over in this post. They are notebooks in which I chronicle the tiny delights from God. I write about how the sunshine feels on my face during my morning walk, the long phone conversation with an old friend, God’s goodness, and the way my coffee tastes. But I also write about the extraordinary days of summer, the time my husband and I went for a walk in a blizzard at night, and all sorts of little things I want to remember.
The main purpose is to notice and appreciate the little gifts God has given me, which in turn helps me notice more and more beauty and pay attention to what God is doing. This is less for formal writing and more for spiritual remembrance, and it’s important to keep it that way.
I haven’t pulled anything out of this, ever. Maybe I will someday. But you don’t often take people to your childhood home to visit. Instead, you go there yourself to be refreshed. It’s a beautiful place to spend time and a beautiful practice for me.
Google Keep
The Apartment
When I wake up in the middle of the night with just the right phrase that has bubbled up from my subconscious, I type it into Google Keep. When I am driving and an idea for an article or book hits me, I voice text it into Google Keep. This app on my phone (and my computer) is the place for all my little baby drafts on the go. I use their label system to keep track of the different categories my writing falls under (like “book ideas,” “Instagram captions,” “Substack posts,” “discipleship,” and “Ecclesiastes,” to name a few).
An apartment is temporary, but you can really live a lot of life there. When I’m ready, I’ll excavate one of the notes and plop it in a Word Document, a Substack draft, or my Instagram app to either work on it more or put it out into the world.
The Word Doc
The Main House
Once upon a time I started a little Word document that has grown… and grown… and grown. It’s over a hundred pages and I just keep adding! The purpose of this word document is to be a catchall of writing. When I need to process, I write there. When an idea strikes me, I write there. It’s the main hub of my writing life.
Tip: If you’re going to start one of these, write the most recent thing at the TOP, because right now it takes 3-5 business days to scroll to the bottom of my doc and I need to fix that.
Free Write Notebook
What is the room in your house that you don’t care is messy? The laundry room? Your closet? Your bedroom? This is that.
I do not care about my handwriting. I do not care about my spelling. I do not care if what I write sounds stupid. In freewriting, you have to KEEP MOVING and no one will ever enter this room without your permission so it’s okay. I want to talk more about freewriting in a later post (it may actually deserve its own series of posts), so we’ll leave this here.
Here’s the thing about where you house your freewriting: You HAVE to have a notebook that you don’t care about. I learned this from Natalie Goldberg who tells us, “Sometimes people buy expensive hardcover journals. They are bulky and heavy, and because they are fancy, you are compelled to write something good. Instead you should feel that you have permission to write the worst junk in the world and it would be okay.”1
Get yourself a free write notebook and let loose!
Poetry & Prose Journal
The Vacation Home
I take this to the lake, into the woods, or anywhere I might feel a little artsy. This is that “fancy” journal Natalie told us to avoid. But writers like fancy journals, so indulge yourself a little and go feel artsy and sophisticated and write (probably bad, when I look back on it) poetry and really flowery prose but do it in style.
Big Ol’ Folder of Word Docs
The Cul-de-sac
Remember that Massive Word Doc I talked about? It has brothers. All the brothers are much shorter than the Massive Word Doc, but they need a place to live too. Because I have lots of other documents on my computer for campus ministry, youth group, and general life, I made a specific folder for my writing documents.
The sort of docs that go in this folder are specific writing projects, books and book proposals, articles, essays, and so on. When I start a draft of something, I always save it directly into this folder.
That’s the lineup! I love my little family of writing homes. Please share your system with us in the comments—what’s been working for you? Do you use any of the above methods?
Tell us in the comments…
Since writing is a mostly solitary activity, let’s create some connections. Join me in the comments and tell us:
What do you write in? Where do you store your work? What system works for you? Share your ideas, and if someone’s system resonates with you, tell them!
How are you LIVING this week? If you don’t know what I mean, click here. I’ll put my answer in the comments!
Bonus: Read through the comments and take a moment to respond to a few of your fellow writers! It takes all of us to build a community.🏡
This Week’s Writing Prompt:
Imagine your writing as a home that you invite others into. What kind of structure is it, and why? What is the general atmosphere? What would you talk about over coffee or tea? If you need inspiration or an example, read this.
If you share your responses to these prompts, I want to read them! Tag me on Substack or on Instagram @alicialynnhamilton. Also, if you share your response publicly, put the link in the comments so we as a community can cheer one another on!
Did you miss the poll?
I want to hear from you! Which day of the week would you like to receive new editions of The Writer’s Cottage? Which morning feels like a time you’d want to sit down with your cup of coffee to read the post, work on the writing prompt, and engage in community in the comments? I’ll most likely send them out between 6 and 8 am EST on whichever day we decide, when life allows!
Other places to connect:
My book! Eternity in Our Hearts: How the Wisdom of Ecclesiastes Frees Us to a Richer Reality
My other Substack: A Creative Connection
Goldberg, Natalie. Writing Down the Bones. Shambhala Publications, 1986, p. 6.
My writing has lived in many places over the years! I’ve kept a journal forever and ever, so there’s a box of a whole bunch of those. My Substack posts are drafted in Google Docs and transferred over when I’m ready. Apple Notes houses my random post ideas in a doc titled “Substack.” (And when I revisit this Note to find my next Substack topic, sometimes I find myself saying, “Now, what did I want to write about that?” Note to self: make more descriptive notes.)
Thanks for sharing!!
I am very analog in my writing habits! I have little notebooks (cheap cardstock ones that I bought off Amazon and make collage covers for with old calendar art) for freewriting. Journal for prayer and Scripture thoughts. Various projects in progress on looseleaf paper, organized into file folders (Substack pieces, sermons/Bible study lessons, a longer form project that is still a Baby, but has an aspirational folder anyway, and so on). Always with pencil! I don't go to my computer to type until my thoughts are fully formed, usually only light editing needed once I get to that point. I have various folders on my computer, categorized by type/purpose/project for those documents.
As to how I LIVED this week: walked on a warm sunny afternoon and observed some early signs of spring, dipped into a new stack of books that I set aside to read during Lent, binged on a new to me podcast, had coffee with a new friend, played a game with my family.