(I am duplicating it here because the comment section is better, but this entry is slightly easier to read on patreon: https://www.patreon.com/posts/65377653)
I was asked recently “how do you keep track of 50+ books from a file system perspective” and I realized… that’s a good question, and the answer is going to be specific to the author in question. But I can tell you why I chose my method, and maybe the why will lead people to ask the right questions for themselves.
Because I write multiple series in multiple settings, my organization system is based on a hierarchy, and it starts at the very top with whether a setting is Major or Minor. I had to make this distinction because otherwise, organizing my Projects folder alphabetically would put some of the least used settings at the top, instead of the settings I use all the time. So the list begins like this:
MAJOR-Peltedverse
Minor-Archipelago
Minor-Childrens Books
Etc. That ensures that the setting I use the most is at the top of the least.
For a minor setting with only one series, the folder once opened gives you this:
Minor-SettingName > NameofBook1
Minor-SettingName > NameofBook2
Where the folders are named after the books. If the book has only one edition, the novel folder will contain its drafts, its ebook and print layout files, its audiobook files, and its cover and developmental art. (If there are enough files, they get separated into folders, too: Art, Audiobook, Ebook, Print, etc).
My largest setting, the Peltedverse, has separate “arms” (Eldritch, Stardancer, Faulfenza) that contain multiple series, so its MAJOR-Setting folder dedicates a folder to each arm. Those folders contain the multiple series that fit into that part of the universe, and will have separate folders for each novel within the series, with its developmental art, drafts, audio, cover art, etc.
All this means when I open a specific novel’s folder (no matter how deep in a setting it is), I’ll always have its cover art, drafts, ebook and paperback layouts, and developmental material in one place… which is a necessity because those are the bare minimum things I need to issue that story as a product, which is important to me as the businessperson/publisher. However, the folder structure will show me that story in the context of the setting and related stories that it exists alongside of, which is important to me as the writer.
The point, then, of the schema is twofold:
1. Help me find the stuff I work on most often, quickly.
2. Help me see the stuff I work on in relation to the other things that relate to it.
The ‘in relation to’ need is a powerful one. For a while, I had one of my settings organized so that each novel was hidden in the folder of its series, but the events in those series interwove and I discovered it was hard for me to hold it in my head without seeing it. So while a lot of my settings are organized like this:
SETTING > SERIES1 > Novel 1
SETTING > SERIES2 > Novel 1
That particular setting is organized like the first image I uploaded.
SETTING > SERIES 1-Novel 1
SETTING > SERIES 2-Novel 1
So that all the novels are visible in the setting folder, but are kept in order because the folder name puts the series name first. It looks like the second image I uploaded.
For some reason, seeing all the novels exploded out this way without having to dig into the series helped clarify for me, mentally, as a storyteller, that the books were interrelated and couldn’t be treated as separate elements with no relation to one another. Maybe it’s because the file structure makes it feel lie one enormous series (which it is, sort of), rather than five or six separate ones. But it’s the only folder I have organized like this. The rest of them look more like this:
Though please don’t do what I do and name your novel folders after your working titles, because it makes searching for things a pain in the tail. >.>
I don’t want to make it sound like my file system is perfectly sorted. I’m constantly adjusting it; for instance, the realization that several of my books now have multiple editions (first edition, second edition, tenth anniversary edition, special Kickstarter edition, etc) has made it important for me to be able to find the most recent/pertinent version. I recently reorganized two of my most commonly used folders so that I don’t accidently use an old edition’s file when I’m making changes: that was a bit of an adventure.
Similarly, my file structure changed when I went from hiring out for print layout to getting software to generate my paperbacks. The software creates an ebook and paperback layout from the same master file, and creates its own file structure that separates those into different folders… so while I used to have ‘Ebook’ and ‘Paperback’ folders that contained multiple drafts of each of those things, now I have a folder with a master file and the generated files, and sometimes that can become a nesting nightmare if I’m not careful. I’m still figuring out how to handle that one.
My other current issue is cover art—I had cover art sorted into the novel folder, which is great until you want to refresh the entire series’s covers. All of a sudden you’re digging into six different folders to get at each file, when it would be easier if they were all in one place… so I’ve started reorganizing cover art into a series-level folder, rather than a novel-level one.
For this reason, I’d say be mindful of your pain points. Your frustrations (“I can’t figure out which of these files is the most recent edition!” “I can’t find the audiobook cover, it’s not in the cover art folder, why did I put it in the audiobook folder with the audio files??”) will demonstrate your needs more clearly than any attempt at top-down organization (though of course, starting out with something you think will work is a good idea; you can modify it from there). Also, understand that as your career evolves (or your body of work grows, or both), your file system may have to change. Before I’d published anything, I didn’t need to address any of the concerns that having ebook/paperback/special editions created. I didn’t care about cover art. What mattered was having the drafts and developmental art in one place.
Granted all these things, here’s my checklist for getting started:
1. Start with a system you think will work.
2. Be mindful of your pain points and modify your system to address them
3. Be willing to change your schema as your career evolves or your oeuvre expands
Note that file systems can be aspirational. If you’re working on Book 1 of a series, creating a series folder and making folders for the future installments in the series (and maybe dropping notes for them in those folders) can sometimes give you a boost, mentally/emotionally. There have been times I’ve browsed my projects folder and found a mostly-empty folder for a project I thought I might want to do in the future, and discovered that the notes I’d left in that folder (no matter how minor) were exciting and made me want to get back to that project.
From a practical point of view, you should make sure you conduct frequent back-ups. I have cloud copies of my projects folder, and offline backups. I just drop the whole ‘Projects’ folder and that takes care of everything.
In sum: your file system has to serve your needs as an author, and a writer who intends to write nothing but standalones (and maybe has only finished one or two) is not going to have or need the same kind of file system an author with multiple series in interlocked universes might. Your file system should reflect your writing plans; to some extent, you can use that organizational schema to mold those plans, as well. Start by asking yourself what you intend, and build from there.
Do you have an organization schema for your writing files? Tell me about them! I’m always looking for new ideas!
Or at least, I intend it to be relaxing. Hopefully it delivers.
4:22 minutes
Materials:
- Pen: Moonman Starry Glass dip pen, Mars: https://www.jetpens.com/Moonman-Starry-Sky-Glass-Dip-Pen-Mars/pd/31536
- Paper: Strathmore Writing Series 500, lined: https://www.jetpens.com/Strathmore-500-Series-Writing-Pad-8.5-x-11-Lined-50-Sheets/pd/15322
- Ink: Robert Oster, Rose Gilt Tynte: https://www.jetpens.com/Robert-Oster-Rose-Gilt-Tynte-Fountain-Pen-Ink-Shake-N-Shimmy-50-ml-Bottle/pd/25170
In which I talk about the paper, the paint, and the experience of oils versus gouache. Fun stuff, will do more.
Thank you Locals supporters! Your contribution to my art war chest here is what's powering these experiments and videos. For now I'm keeping them public but I may start doing some subscriber-only videos if you all are interested.💖
Thanks for your comments yesterday on the business post... all very provocative, in a good way. I'll try to respond to all of them today.
Some Alysha misc now, since I'm gearing up for the results of the Kickstarter!
Petrov is giving away coupon codes for every book in the Alysha series (and has some leftover coupons for Marda and the business book). You can pick those up here (and please do! The books are bought already, someone should use them!) https://twitter.com/PetrovNeutrino/status/1457344535843987461
Our own @JudasComplex sent along a sample of the Faith in the Service audiobook, which I've attached for your delight! I... haven't had a chance to listen to it. Don't ask me about my past week and a half or so. Putting it here will guarantee I get to it.
After hearing the amused comments during the livestream, I went ahead and added all the ship type illustrations I have inked from the 90s to the wiki. Glory in the rampant adorableness of their anthropomorphic stylings! See those ...
A little comedy today, at least in the link. Transcript follows.
Hi, all. Welcome to this episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
A while back I was introduced to a comedy sketch about Cuban coffee by a Mexican comedian, Gabriel Iglesias. ( The sketch begins with him greeting all his fellow Latinos and then backing up to say ‘but we’re all different, aren’t we’ which is a segue into a demonstration of how different Hispanics speak Spanish.
It is hilarious. First, because I am a Spanish speaker and a linguistics hobbyist, and his portrayal of various accents resonated with my experiences in trying to make sense of them myself… Not always easy, since from culture to culture, slang and accent are often totally different (and sometimes grammar! Spaniards use a grammatical construct that has died out in many other Spanish-speaking countries, the plural “you.”)
I also loved it because the Cuban coffee part is real. I grew up with Cubans. I know how we are....
One of the most common things I hear (and say) right now is "the asymmetry is the story." Here's one about how none of us are innocent of the sins we hate in others.
Hi, all. Welcome to this week’s episode of The Jaguar’s Heart.
It’s been weeks since the Baen’s Bar incident and I’m still thinking about it... because the longer I do, the more I feel, overwhelmingly, that it’s obvious that the problem is deeper than “this forum was saying stuff that offended us.” We have to back up to the glaring fact that people on opposite sides no longer consider each other human. Nothing I say will matter because the people disagreeing with me don’t think I’m human. They have denied my humanity; they have not bothered to listen to my beliefs, or have fake-listened to them in that way that people do when they’re so ready to prove you wrong that they’re only using your speech to provide talking points for their own ideas.
We have forgotten how to listen.
Increasingly, we have also ...
There are a lot of things on my mind lately, and this year particularly because this month I hit a milestone birthday (what I call the decade birthdays!), and it’s been 25 years since my first professional fiction sale. To date, in that 25-year-span, I’ve published 71 books for adults, 3 for children, and 7 coloring books. I feel like this is a great start to a career, particularly given that some people don’t start publishing their first books until they’re closer to my current age!
So I’m satisfied that I’ve created a significant body of work. I’ve got the Peltedverse arc to wrap up, and some other projects I’d like to get back to, but I’m proud of what I’ve accomplished and there are enough finished series in that I don’t feel like I’m sitting on a giant mass of unfinished projects.
Which brings me to my birthday and my reflection on the industry and social trends. Every year since the indie revolution hit has brought some version of doom about discovery and organic reach and ...
Complete with homemade challah french toast (the challah is homemade). (Also the french toast.)
I guess if you weren't sure about buying a thing or leaving a review or telling a friend about a thing or taking the book quiz, there is no time like the present. Because it would be that, literally, a present. XD
Okay I'm loopy, I'm off to nap, I am so full. XD
I am home and recovering from a lovely Necronomicon 2025! Happily, this year was much busier than last, which got rained out by the hurricane three days prior. The scene in the halls was lively, and the panels actually had attendees! But it kept its cozy vibe, which meant I had plenty of time to do what I love best, which is talk to people.
This year I had both a writer’s alley table and art in the art show, and I volunteered for panels (and ended up on five of them!), so I was busy! Basically eight or nine hour days every day! By Saturday I was so hoarse I was putting honey in everything I was drinking. Never have I had more ample a demonstration that in my daily life I spend more time listening than talking than seeing how fast I ran out of voice when I had to talk.
My marketing thrust this year was getting people to take the quiz! I had a QR code and then I gave out colored dots that corresponded to the eight archetypes, and I had a leaderboard tracking what archetype was dominating. My biggest problems with this...
I was in a fine mood that evening, when I followed the scent of roasted meat to the cheldzan, the only building large enough for both clans to congregate… and even then, a handful of people had spilled from its entrance onto the road, where a second stewpot was sending delectable scents toward the lavender sky. I stopped beside it to receive a bowl and a flatbread scoop and wandered among the Jokka, listening to various conversations. A good half of the people there were eperu, which surprised me; somehow I thought of the third sex as the least populous. If I asked Winoña, would I discover that she’d counted all the sexes in the clans she’d met? I smiled.
The Jokka of Clan Edla recognized me, and wanted to talk—about injuries and sickness, yes, but also about recoveries and births—so the sky had set out stars before I finally made my way to the back of the cheldzan, where I found Daridil, Seper, and Koish in consultation. The lore-knower of Clan Edla, a spindly eperu named Dlona, made up the fourth in their discussion, and Winoña was listening behind the counter, wiping bowls.
“We are blessed here,” Daridil said. “Game is plentiful… the forest gives both fish and beasts, and water is for the taking. I once questioned the wisdom of staying, but the gods have made their will clear.”
“There’s enough for your clan,” Koish allowed. “I fear what would happen if we overburdened the area. The stories say that when we linger, we use up the sap of the land.”
“That won’t happen here,” Seper said. “We will be good stewards.”
“Do you even know what that will entail?” Koish said. “If you have too many mouths to feed….”
“Then, we find another way,” Daridil said.
“Probably by selling our excess members to clans who are failing,” Seper said briskly. “You know as well as we do, ke Koish, that many clans are hurting for labor and breeders. Particularly breeders. The nomadic ways are hard on us.”
Behind Koish, Dlona murmured, “Ke Seper has this right.”
Joining them, I said, “Are you trying to talk them into staying?” I smiled at Koish. “You know they have to make their argument.”
“They’re eloquent,” Koish said. “And if it were up to the clan, I’d probably have to move into that empty building tomorrow. But I have to do what’s right for them, whether it’s popular or not. And I’m not convinced. Although, I’ve heard something about a shrine?”
Daridil’s ears pricked. “Yes. To honor the gods and thank them for the gift of this place.”
“You can’t buy the favor of the gods,” Dlona said.
“Of course not,” Daridil said. “One honors the gods, one does not bribe them.”
“I like the idea.” Koish leaned over the counter and plunked his clay cup on it. “Give me a refill, ke anadi, and then Daridil and I will go talk. About fate and food, among other things.”
Winoña chuckled and filled the cup from a leather bag. “And so much useful discussion will be had after your… third, I believe? Cup of this?”
Koish snorted. “I brew my own spirits, ke Winoña. Your mild-tempered spirits will have to work harder to cloud my thoughts.” Raising his new serving, he gestured toward the door. “Daridil?”
“With you, ke emodo.”
Dlona watched them go with a long face, ears twitched backward. Then it sighed. “Do you have a spare cup, ke anadi? I think I may need it.”
“Trouble?” I asked.
The eperu eyed me, dour. “Everything under the sun and stars is trouble. It’s just a matter of how it arrives.”
Seper chuckled. “I’ll enjoy having you among us for the haul, Dlona.”
I looked from one to the other and canted my head. “It didn’t sound like Koish had made a decision.”
“Koish will make the right choice for the breeders, as he should,” Dlona said. “And the right choice is finding out if they do better here than abroad. And we know how they do abroad, so all that’s left is to discover how they do in one place. But I won’t take our wagon apart. In the case that we might need it.”
“I wouldn’t suggest anything else,” Seper said. “Let me take you to the new eperu. You’ll want to meet them. Then we can discuss the buildings, and our plans for the granary.”
Dlona’s eyes sharpened. “A granary, is it? Is that what the bricks are for?”
“Yes,” Seper said.
The other eperu grinned, showing blunted teeth. “Is it round?”
Seper laughed. “Yes, like in the stories. As you could probably tell me.” It canted its head. “You can tell me, can’t you? Nudet lost its lore-knower before it could pass on all that it knew to me….”
“We should write those things down from now on,” Winoña interrupted, earning stares from all of us. “We can,” she said. “We don’t need to be limited to tallies on knots, which makes sense for roving clans that can’t store anything permanently. We have space here to keep records. We should keep records.”
“On what, though?” Dlona asked, frowning… but not objecting. Thinking, from its expression.
“Leaves?” Seper said. “Bark, maybe?”
“The stories speak of clay tablets….” Dlona plucked at its braided arm ruffs, as if counting knots on a tally blanket. "They also speak of paper, but not how it was made.”
“Clay we have in plenty,” Seper said.
“We should make clay tablets, then,” Winoña said. “So that what happened to Nudet doesn’t happen again.”
Seper’s grin had a challenging air. “And will you have us carve you out a new cavern to keep these clay tablets in?”
“Why not?” Her chin rose. “I already have to keep records to run a cheldzan and a storeroom. Or haven’t you noticed me using paint on the walls for it?”
“I haven’t,” I said, startled.
Seper chuckled. “Have her show you, Kediil. Dlona, if you like? We’ll make the way easy for ke Koish.”
“By all means, introduce me. You’ve hired some new eperu since Clan Edla came through last.”
They departed, leaving me with a spinning head. “That is what it looks like, isn’t it? Koish doesn’t think he’s made a decision, but he has.” I thought of his concerns. “Or maybe he’s just saying what we want to hear?”
“I doubt it.”
Did he even know he’d changed his mind? I rubbed my brow. “Do things always happen that quickly?”
“When they do,” Winoña said, “it’s usually because the conditions favorable to those changes were already developing, unseen.” She threaded her fingers together and rested her chin on them, smiling up at me. “You have that look again, like I’ve said something you didn’t expect and you admire me for it.”
“And if I said… yes… would you be disappointed?”
She giggled. “No! I want you to look at me like that all the time! Come here behind the counter, I’ll teach you to serve drinks.”
“Is that hard?”
“No, which means we’ll have plenty of time to enjoy one another’s company.” She glanced past me at the people crowding her hall. “Look at them, Kediil. How often have you seen so many Jokka in one place?”
“Rarely,” I said. “It’s noisy and hot.”
“But alive,” she said. “It’s so good to see so much life in one place.”
I’d expected her to laugh. But this comment, stated with such fervor, made me look again, and see, for just a moment, through her eyes. The eyes that counted and saw fewer people too often. The eyes that looked now and saw vitality and promise and hope of some different, better future.
I longed for the wind on my cheeks and the horizon before my eyes. But how much of that longing had been shaped by my desire to escape the captivity designed for me by fate, or the gods, or my family… all of them?
I stepped behind the counter and bumped her hip until she moved over. “Teach me how to pour things.”
“Is this an excuse to let me teach you something you already know?”
“Yes?”
She laughed. “Well, if you love the sound of my voice that much….”
***
I did not have to seek out Koish; he found me behind the Nudet building, settling my rikka for the night. I straightened, tucking my loosened hair back behind my shoulders, and waited.
“Derra’s caught a child.”
He didn’t need to say anything else. I knew Derra, a fragile, easily tired anadi who longed for children and had only been able to bear one so far. If Derra had conceived, Clan Edla would stay where the risks to her pregnancy could be minimized. Two anadi pregnant and another with a toddler would make traveling difficult… and, coincidentally, give Koish and Edla status in the new settlement. Fruitfulness was admired, no matter where on Ke Bakil you traveled, and clans rich in breeding anadi were granted a deference that no other Jokkad could claim.
“Will you stay?” he asked. When I hesitated, he said, “Or come back to check on Derra through her pregnancy?” I could hear his smile in the dark. “You’ll know exactly where to find us.”
“Ke emodo…” I sighed. “Yes. I’ll check on her. I won’t promise to live here, but I’ll come back from time to time.”
“Thank you. I knew you would, just as I know you understand why I’ve changed my mind.”
“We all serve the breeders,” I said, as if I had scooped the words out of Mardin’s mouth.
“Yes. Good night to you, ke anadi.”
Melon shuffled toward the end of his stall to bump my shoulder with his muzzle, and I petted it idly, watching Koish’s body until I could neither see nor hear him.
Yes, I understood. And I feared that I had my own reasons to change my mind, because I was not ready for the future. Are we ever?
