Photos...So Many Photos!

by Bronwyn Jameson

After two overseas trips this year and a slew of exciting events -- including the arrival of our first grandchild!!! -- I am drowning in photos.  Digital photos, iPhone photos, TinyBeans photos, emailed photos, SMSed photos.

Arabella (one of MANY photos!)

I like to think that I'm an organised person.  My To-Do schedule reminds me on a regular basis that I need to "Organise Photos."  That item keeps being rescheduled because (a) it's not urgent (b) it's not work-related (c) it's never as important as other tasks.

I used to do this regularly, prompted by my Mum who didn't do digital.  I needed to go through the photos to choose which to print for her, which meant I often printed for myself as well.  And I at least edited the collection, organised them into folders, and even labelled some...a great help with trips and my failing memory.

Now I've let this slide too long.  I need to get myself, and my photo collections, organised.  Help is needed to get me started.

How do you manage your digital photos?  Do you have any tips for organising, sorting and storing them?  Do you still print copies and use albums?  Do you make photo books? 

'Being Organised': One Writer's Life's Dream

My name is Ally Blake and I am a planner.

In fact, I honestly don't understand people who aren't!  How can you nutty non-planners possibly keep track of all that has to be done without writing it down?  Without a to-do list how do you wild and crazies live with that fluttery feeling that you might have forgotten something?!?!

I also adore symmetry.  And even numbers (petrol gauge, volume on the TV, even always).  I like stripes and spots. I love black and white. I adore renovation shows but would happily only watch the big reveal. All that neatness!  And tidiness!  And paint that's yet to be marred by a single dirty fingerprint!  The unclutter movement is my bliss.  I've done KonMari. The William Morris quote “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful, or believe to be beautiful” gives me happy chills!

And yet - in the eternal dichotomy that is human existence - I don't see mess. It's comes part and parcel with my (diagnosed) 'Off With the Fairies' disorder. How can one possibly keep ones house tidy all the time when there are imaginings to be imagined? For example, I could walk over a bobby pin sitting on the stairs a dozen times and not notice it.  Or if I do I'll tell myself to pick it up later.  Just ask my husband - he's the one with the (undiagnosed) Just Pick It Up when You See It condition.  This also comes down to the fact that I have no willpower.  Am distracted by bright shiny things.  And happily lose great tracts of time to faffing.

And thus, in order to maintain a base level of sanity, my eternal pursuit for Being Organised is real.

Here are a few mantras and hacks that have helped me at least feel more organised:

DO IT NOW
Answer emails, texts and invitations the moment you read them!  The longer you leave them unanswered the more weight they place on your shoulders.  And it just keeps piling up.

WRITE IT DOWN
Think of something you need 'to do' write it down.  On a scrap, on your hand. Keep a master list somewhere - I use my Bullet Journal.

TICK IT OFF
Ticking things off you to do list is one of the best things you can do for yourself. It's been scientifically proven that you'll get a dopamine hit every time you make that tick. And you feel physically lighter!



@TheOrganisedWriter

CLEAR YOUR HEAD
Before getting to the meat of my day (the writing of the books) I now know I need to do a few things to clear my head first.  Admin things, preparation things, creative things. For me its a form of meditation.  Cleansing of the creative palette.

UNPLUG
Once the preparation is done - unplug.  Switch off.  Put your head down and work.  Distraction is the key to your undoing.

IF IT ISN'T BEAUTIFUL OR FUNCTIONAL, LOSE IT.
I'm a big one for finding your bliss and swimming in it till you're all pruney. So ditch the clutter and surround yourself with things that give you joy.  Lighter and brighter all the way, baby.

And if anyone has a magical piece of organisational advice to add, please share!  My learning on this score will never be done.

- - - - - -

Anyone coming to the Romance Writers of Australia conference in Brisbane this month, I'm holding a workshop entitled The Organised Writer in which I'll share hints and hacks to help others like me to organise their space, their time and their heads in order to write more, write clean, write better.  Head over to The Organised Writer facebook page for more.https://www.facebook.com/theOrganisedWriter/

The Disorganised Traveller!

I have a confession... I'd love to be a super-organised person and sometimes I can masquerade as one... but the bottom line is that it doesn't come naturally!

And the reason this is painfully obvious to me at the moment is we bought a small caravan just over a week ago.  We're quite excited about our new method of travel. Not least because the kitchen is inside!  Luxury!  No cooking on gas jets in the wind!

But it's going to take a while before we find where everything "belongs", before we become efficient at using the space.  We're on our second little jaunt with it and I'm finding that it's as though stuff is spring-loaded, ready to leap out of whatever storage nook it's been in to create instant clutter!

So that's what I'm after today - all your small-space-living tips!  HELP!

And I thought I'd take on a quick pictorial tour of our first trip. We went to house-and-pet sit for a friend. She has 5 horses, 1 dog, 1 cat and a million gorgeous roses!  I was a bit worried about the roses, given my not-so-green thumb!  But it was only a few days and we all survived!

Meet Gidget!

... and Miss Piggy ...

... and Labrat (oops sorry that should be Precious!)...

And three of the million gorgeous roses!

To Keep Or Not To Keep...?

During January I did a major clean-up of my office.  Not only the surface areas -- the accumulated materials from my last project -- but this time I opened every cupboard door and pulled out every drawer to take a long hard look at the accumulated junk.  

Well, okay, only some comes under the classification of junk.  There is also valuable research material -- magazines and newspaper cuttings and other items of interest which I go through every so often for inspiration -- and my keeper shelves.  During my clean-ups I generally close the cupboard door on my keepers.  They're classified as "keepers" for a reason.  They stay.

But this time I got to thinking.  Why am I keeping these books?  80-90% of my reading these days is digital.  I've started to recollect my favourite authors, favourite series, in digital format.  Do I need the paperback version when I'm not selecting my reading material from these shelves?  

And so I got to work.  

I couldn't let go my absolute favourites.  I still have a reduced-by-half keepers cupboard.  Many are hardbacks and/or signed copies.  Another selection of favourites was moved into this box, currently located beneath my writing desk.  It could take a little while longer to convince myself to let them go for good.

So, tell me, are you a keeper?  Has the shift to digital reading changed your "keeping" habits?  And which one series -- or author -- could you never part with?