Organizing Your Projects

by Scott Rhoades

I recently discovered another free app that can be used to keep your writing life organized.

Cozi Family Organizer (cozi.com and popular app stores) was designed for families. You can keep a family calendar as well as calendars for each family member, journals, to do lists, and shopping lists.

That's pretty cool, but I immediately thought of ways to use it as a writing tool.

For example, instead of setting up the organizer for each family member, you can set it up for each project. Then you can keep track of your writing schedule and submissions on the calendar, to do lists for each project, and keep a journal of word count, story issues, and progress. I haven't thought of a cool way to use the shopping list feature, which is essentially like the to do list, but you probably will.

You can also use it to keep track of stuff within one project. Say, for example, you have several characters doing different things at the same time. Use the calendar to track each character's movements over the course of the story.

You can use this app to keep your writing life at your fingertips wherever you are. Apps are available for the iPad and iPhone, Android tablets, and Nook (Color or Tablet). The app is available in the Amazon App Store, so it's probably safe to assume that you can get it for that cool new Kindle Fire.Your info is also available on the Web, so you can use any computer.
All your info is automatically synced across your devices. You can also sync the calendar with your Outlook calendar and import your Internet calendars, including your Google or online school calendar.

So if you're looking for a way to keep your projects organized and like the idea of having all your project info ready wherever you are, this might be your answer. I haven't had a chance to really work it out, but I've played around with the key features and it looks like it will do the job. All you have to do is pretend your projects are family members.

Give it a try and let us know what you think.

Today's Friday Free EBook from Barnes and Noble: From the Ashes by Jeremy Burns, described as an Indiana Jones-like conspiracy thriller involving archaeologists and Nazi Germany. Looks fun.