Artists: Does a lack of organization come naturally to us?

I am a naturally disorganized person. It can be frustrating because, when I was growing up, I admired people who could keep everything they needed to do in its proper order.

As an artist, I tend to let things pile up instead of dealing with them in an orderly fashion. "Why?" is the question I've always asked myself. But I think I know the answer, at least part of the answer.

Whether you're a writer or an illustrator, you're an artist, and your art is very important to you. You nurture your art, mature it, then present it to the world. I am a homebody. I like to be left alone, for the most part, left to my writing. I bury myself in the story worlds I'm crafting.

In order to create, I bring together a lot of elements. Those elements are sometimes rough and unrefined. I sketch characters and creatures, and jot down character and plot ideas. Some ideas I toss aside for future reference or use, while others I expand upon. It takes a lot of material to create even one finished novel.

But the process to that finished product is . . . well . . . messy!

My mind is almost always working on story ideas. This post ties in, somewhat, to my previous post, because one of my solutions has ended up being the iPad. It serves as my alarm clock, sends me notifications of appointments, and allows me to add events to my calendars instantly. I highly recommend for those artists out there who struggle to keep organized, think creatively on how to take advantage of today's technology to better organize your writing life.

It has helped me.