A golden rule of NaNoWriMo is to back up your work. Every year, too many writers lose the one and only copy of their novels due to computer malfunctions, unfortunate accidents, and novel-stealing gnomes. Fortunately, you can avoid losing your manuscript by frequently backing up to multiple locations. (Use two or three from this post for maximum security.) Today, I'm going to show you Mac users how to set up a super cool USB drive for NaNoWriMo. (If you're using a PC, follow this tutorial instead.)

Most of you will have only one Novel folder on your USB drive. I have three because I'm working on three novels next month. (Egads!) I chose to only back up novels on this USB drive for simplicity's sake.

This set-up utilizes custom folder icons and custom folder backgrounds. With the Finder window in question open, press command + J to open the Visual Organization panel (shown above). Select "Picture" under "Background" and drag your desired image file into the square. You can also adjust the size of your icons with the "Icon Size" sliding bar.

Here's what one of the Novel folders looks like on the inside.

Because I plan to write the first 50K of this book in five days, I went ahead and created back-up folders ahead of time. In an ideal world, you'll back up your novel to at least one location every single day. Overkill? Of course, but you're better off being safe rather than sorry! (And trust me—people who lose their novels are VERY sorry. Like, sobbing incessantly while screaming WHYYYY sorry. Don't be that person.)

Optional Folders:

• Outline: Store a copy of your outline here (if applicable).
• Accomplishments: Received a nice compliment? Have screenshots of your progress bar after a long day of writing? Back those up here.
• Rewards: Use this tutorial to create a "listing" for any and all rewards you plan to treat yourself to. Going to buy yourself a NaNo t-shirt after hitting 50K? Create an icon that takes you to the t-shirt's listing in the NaNo store. Want to take a long nature walk at 25K? Simply drag and drop a picture of a nature trail!
• Pre-NaNo Draft (not pictured): If you're a NaNo rebel and are picking up where you left off on an already in-progress manuscript, keep a copy of your pre-November draft in this folder for reference and safekeeping.

You can download all of this (background files, icons, etc) in a .zip file (3.6 MB) by clicking here. 

Note that if your flash drive is formatted for Windows, you will need to go to Utilities>Disk Utility and "Erase" the content of your USB drive in order for these tricks to work. I recommend doing this only if the USB drive is brand new or if you have made copies of the USB drive's existing content. Be sure to select "Mac OS Extended (Journal) from the drop-down list of options.

To learn how to customize the appearance of any folder on your Mac, watch the following video tutorial. (Excerpted from this post.)

1. Select the folder you would like to change the appearance of and press command + i.

2. Open your desired folder icon image.

3. Press command + a to select the entire image.

4. Press command + c to copy.

5. Select the folder icon in the information panel.

6. Press command + v. Voila!

For more tips (including a snazzy Novel folder and Agent Directory), check out my Visual Organization Series.


Have a smashing NaNoWriMo 2013, you guys!

Kat

ETA: Eek! This post was featured in the NaNoWriMo Procrastination Station!

If you plan to traditionally publish those newly-organized novels of yours (see here), you'll need to find a good literary agent who will work with you to make your novel sellable, pitch your manuscript to publishing houses, and negotiate contracts on your behalf.

The first step to finding an agent is to get online and search for literary agents in your genre. Many sites have already compiled lists of genre-appropriate agents who are currently accepting submissions. Although agents generally want a query letter, synopsis, and X chapters/pages of your (completed!) manuscript, their specific submission guidelines will differ. Not every agent who accepts novels in your genre will be a good match for your manuscript, so be sure to read through each agent's lists of likes and dislikes to get a better sense of their literary "wishlist."

So how in the hell am I supposed to keep track of these potential agents? 

Two words, my friend: Agent Database.

To create an Agent Database, create a folder titled "Agents." Give it a snazzy icon. Within the "Agents" folder, create individual folders for the genres you typically write. 

Creating an Agent Listing

1. Visit the agent's webpage.

2. Drag their photo to your desktop. 

3. Highlight the web address. Drag to your desktop.

4. Open the image. Press command + a to select the entire image and command + c to copy.

5. Select the link's icon. Press command + i to open the information panel. 

6. Click the Safari icon in the information panel.

7. Press command + v.

8. Click once on the file name to edit. Press command + a to select all text. Delete. Type agent's name.

9. Move your newly-created Agent Listing to the appropriate genre folder.

As you can see, I use a color-coding system for my potential agents. Yellow indicates that the agent appears to be a really strong match for my manuscript, while orange indicates a slightly better-than-moderate match. You could potentially use the color-coding system to differentiate between manuscripts if you have multiple books in the same genre. If you are in the process of querying, I would suggest assigning an additional color to agents whom you have already queried to avoid repeat submissions. Do note that any color-coding scheme you elect to use will not show up if you open your Agent Directory from the sidebar (as seen in the video above). 

What is your current method for organizing prospective agents? Did my method help you? Let me know!

Welcome back, folks! Now that you know how to customize your folders, it's time to discuss the folders themselves. Let's start off with the coolest and most important folder: THE NOVEL FOLDER.

One of the reasons us writers experience writer's block is because we're unorganized. If you're anything like me, you have all of this stuff––and more!––crammed into some disaster of a file like this:

When your workspace looks like this, you're going to feel like shit. Why? Because you can't find anything. File dumps are chaotic, stressful, and uninspiring. I mean, look at dat mess. I don't look at that and go MAN do I want to write. I look at that and turn on Netflix and watch 30 Rock.

The good news is that our situations are totally fixable. To the video we go!

The goal here is to make your novels easily accessible and to be able to find your files. Please adjust my guidelines to best suit your novel-writing needs!

1. Create a new folder. Title it "Novels."
2. Give that folder a kick-ass icon.
3. Within the Novel folder, create a new folder for each of your novels (both published and currently in-progress). Repeat #2.
4. Create a WIP (Works in Progress) folder for any story that's on the back-burner. Put your WIPs in there. Repeat #2.
5. Dig up your most recent document for each story. Put it in its respective novel folder.
6. Create a new folder for "Past Versions/Deleted Scenes" for each novel. Repeat #2.
7. Round up any and all non-current versions of your work and move them to their respective "Past Versions/Deleted Scenes" folders.
8. Create an "Inspiration" folder for each novel. Step #2. Use these folders to collect inspiring images that directly relate to each story. (We'll cover general Inspiration folders later!)
9. Create a "Misc" folder for any files that don't have a home. Step #2.

Have covers for your novels?
1. Create a "Cover" folder.
2. Give that folder a kick-ass icon.
3. Place the final copy of each of your novel's covers into this folder.
4. Create an "Elements" folder within the Cover folder. Use this folder to organize (by novel) the elements you used to make your final cover. This includes source images and raw files.

Important Tips!

•  If you add your Novel folder to the sidebar like I did, be sure to press control while holding down the mouse on the folder's icon. You'll need to select "Folder" under "Display As" instead of "Stack."
• Want to make the size or your file previews larger or smaller in Finder? Press command + J after opening the folder you would like to modify.

Feel free to download my button set for personal use. (Click here!)

Did you give this a try? Thinking about it? Have questions? Let me know!

Welcome to my first blog series! It's called Visual Organization and is part of an overarching scheme of posts about Overcoming Writer's Block. Heads up, though: it's for Mac users. 

Did you know that you can customize your folder icons? It's surprisingly simple. Before we get into any of the cool stuff (like organizing your current project or creating a directory of agents by genre), though, you'll first need to learn a thing or two about folders. Behold!

1. Select the folder you would like to change the appearance of and press command + i.

2. Open your desired folder icon image.

3. Press command + a to select the entire image.

4. Press command + c to copy.

5. Select the folder icon in the information panel.

6. Press command + v. Voila!


The best part is that this aesthetically pleasing tip works on more than just folders: it works on everything. (Links, text clippings, Word documents, you name it!) We're going to be using this nifty Mac feature in a variety of ways during these next few weeks to create organized novel folders, inspiration pages, awesome agent directories, research collections, and more. In the meantime, stalk around my Instagram account for images such as this:

Let me explain you the art of organizing prospective agents.
(End result looks prettier IRL.)

and this:

Suck at organizing something writing-related? Stoked about re-doing your folders? Do tell down thar.