Clean Up Time for Writers

It’s the time of year everyone gets the itch to get outside, clean up all the sticks and leaves in the yard, look at what’s popping up in the garden, sneak in that first sit on the deck or in the yard with the warm spring sunshine on your back. You might even be moved to clean some windows, wash the car or sort through what’s accumulated in the garage over the winter. It’s spring, at least on the calendar and it’s the time of year that burst of energy called spring fever hits!

For writers, this is a good time of year to spring clean as well. Take a look at the project ideas you’ve been stockpiling in a file cabinet or on your hard drive. Pull out those index cards with character outlines. Do you have a notebook with plot sketches, timelines, lists of red herrings or clues? What about that storyboard you started a couple of years ago?

This is a great time to sift through those – you could find a gem that gets your mind working on your next mystery, or find a great twist for the current manuscript. You could discover the perfect villain for the story you’re outlining. Or you could even discover a series in what someone else might call clutter, but we all know is research and planning!

Take some time to let the sun shine on some of your ideas, plots, characters and outlines and discover what great material you’ve had hibernating over the winter.
Let me know – what did you discover during your writer’s spring cleaning?