How to Organize Your Thoughts for eHow

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By veryirie
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Does this look familiar?

Most days I do an excellent impression of a headless chicken; I'm just that kind of person. However, when it comes to my writing, I work best when there is some kind of order. If you need help managing your notes, please read on to learn how to organize your thoughts for eHow.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

3-ring binder
see-through pencil pouch with 3 rings
sheet protectors
sectional dividers
labels for dividers
paper punch
6" x 9" manila envelopes
great resource articles

Step 1

Front cover.

If you can organize your thoughts, this should allow you to be more productive. You're not wasting time looking for lost notes. So, first things first....Make a coversheet for your binder, preferably something that will inspire you. I like to brainstorm so I used a clip from my Print Shop program. Insert this in the front sleeve of your binder.
Step 2

A big help to me!

Copy instructional eHow articles that are important to you. eHow writer jimdris wrote a great one on How to Print an eHow Article. His step 3 allowed me to edit the article in Microsoft Word and change the font and size to suit my eyes. I use my eHow resources daily, and it is important to me that I be able to read them in black and white ON REAL PAPER! :) I used this procedure on all my resource articles from eHow. Insert your reference articles in sheet protectors; file them in a section labeled RESOURCES.
Step 3

My ideas section.

My idea section is most important to me. This is where I take all my chicken-scratched notes I've left all over the house and put them in my see-through pencil pouch. When a thought comes into my head, I immediately write it down, wherever I am, whether it seems stupid or not. WRITE IT DOWN! How else would you come up with a title like How to Disguise a Fishstick?
Step 4

eHow Expense Receipt Envelope.

Using the paper punch, you can also make holes in the 6 x 9 manila envelopes to hold your ideas if you don't have a pencil pouch. I have several of these envelopes in my binder. One holds receipts for my eHow expenses for tax purposes. (Well, it's actually empty right now, but I'm an optimist and figure I'll need this in the near future).
Step 5

More resources.

I have a section for earnings and article views. I keep a daily record of these figures and print my article list weekly. I think it was eHow writer Shannon Nee that figured out how to print your list in categorical order, or alphabetical order, or by ascending or descending earnings. With these lists, you can really evaluate your work and fix what may need fixing.
Step 6

Ready to roll!

Organize your thoughts for eHow by making your binder to suit you. At the end of each day, gather all your notes or printed articles and put them in order. It's great to start out fresh the next morning. Keep up the great writing fellow eHowers!

Comments

letmehelpyou said

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on 11/16/2009 All right! This is great info on how to organize for ehow. I'm new here (only published 2 articles so far) and already have lots of stickies, note cards, pieces of paper with chicken scratch notes here and there. This info is going to help me get it together. Love the informative photos, helpful ideas and great resources. Thanks!!

on 11/16/2009 All right! This is really great info on how to organize for e.how. Since I'm new to ehow (only published 2 articles so far) this piece is really going to help me get it together. Crammed with helpful photos and words of wisdom.