January is also National Clean Up Your Computer Month. Starting a new year is a great time to clean out the old and unneeded. Most writers depend on their computer as a vital part of their writing process. To keep yours in tip top shape, follow these steps:

If you have a PC:

1. Organize your documents in your My Documents folder. Delete unneeded documents and create folders to store the ones you need to keep.
2. Delete temporary files.
3. Clear the cache.
4. Delete old email.
5. Clean off your Desktop of outdated shortcuts.
6. Uninstall programs you no longer need or use.
7. Review your Favorites or Bookmarks folder and get rid of any sites you no longer visit.
8. Run Disk Cleanup in System Tools (Start menu, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Cleanup)
9. Run a spyware detection program. I use Ad-Aware. It’s free for personal use.
10. Install an anti-virus program if you don’t already have one. I use AVG. They have a free version for personal use.
11. Run Disk Defragmenter (Start menu, Accessories, System Tools, Disk Defragmenter).

Perform these steps once every three months, at the minimum, to keep your computer running well. (For more information on how to run these steps, read How to Clean Up Your Computer.)

If you have a Mac:

I don’t have a Mac myself, so I’m just going to point you to some resources for cleaning up a Mac.

How to Use Apple Computer Disk Utility to Clean Up your Mac

Clean up a Thumb Drive

Physical Cleaning

As a final step, shut down your computer and get out your vacuum. Using a brush or wand attachment, vacuum out the computer fan on the back of the computer. The fan pulls air in through the front of the computer and across the processor to keep it cool. It pulls in dust as well, a lot of dust if your computer normally sits on the floor. Vacuuming off the back fan will help it run better, so you don’t run the risk of overheating the processor.

While the vacuum is out, run it across your keyboard. If you tend to eat at your computer like I do, the keyboard becomes a crumb catcher. Even just turning the keyboard upside down and shaking it will allow some of the crumbs and dust bunnies to fall out.

If you keep your computer in good condition, it should help you write your bestsellers for many years to come.

Do you have any specific steps you use to keep your computer clean?

January is Get Organized Month, a great month for writers, though we may not appreciate it so much. As a writer, you have to keep yourself organized or you’ll make your writing life a lot harder than it has to be.

Organize Your Research

If you’re writing a book that is heavily dependent on research, you’ll need a way to organize your notes so you can find what you need, when you need it.

Lisa Janice Cohen uses a “wiki” to organize her notes. A wiki is a collection of web pages that can be modified by anyone with access. Wikipedia is one of the best known wikis. You can read her posts on how she uses a wiki . And she put together a PDF with screenshots to give you a better idea of how it works.

Infocollector is another online application for collecting and tagging information.

Jason Penney shares how he uses a mind map to organize his novel notes.

Organize Your Novel

There are a lot of details to track when writing a novel. Creating a Project File might help.

I use yWriter software to organize and write my novels. (Love it!) It’s a free download and here’s a good review of the software.

Organize Your Submissions

Greg Knollenberg shares how to track your submissions.

Sonar is free manuscript tracking software from Spacejock Software.

The Writer’s Technology Companion reviews Sonar as well as Slushomatic and Writer’s Database.

LitMatch is an online submission tracking application.

Organize Your Business

Shirley Jump gives some tips for how to keep the business side of your writing organized.

You can also download 1-4-all Account software to help you keep your books, manage your writing business and more.

Paperback Writer shares thoughts on tracking writing expenses.

What tools do you use to stay organized?

May you have a blessed holiday season and a bright 2009 filled with many words!

I mentioned Shrinking Violet Promotions the other day. As Christmas approaches, they’re doing a wonderful series on the Twelve Days of Christmas-Introvert Style. They’re up to Day 5 with an inspiring post each day and a giveaway.

If you’re feeling people-challenged this holiday season, visit Shrinking Violet Promotions to pick up some helpful suggestions for surviving the holidays while keeping up with your writing. And throw your name in the hat for the great giveaways!

It’s December again and besides the rush of holiday buying, it’s also time to begin planning for 2009. What do you plan to accomplish in 2009 that will further your writing?

What did you accomplish in 2008?

Start by jotting down some notes on what you did this year.

Write down where you are at in the following areas:

• Inventory – How many stories or novels do you have on hand? What’s the status of each? Working on rough draft? Rough draft done? In revision stage? Polished version completed?
• Submitting – How many stories or novels did you send out last year? What’s the status of each? Heard back from the publisher? Time to send a follow-up note?
• Marketing – Do you have a marketing plan to connect with your readers? Do you have a website or blog? Do you have an email list of interested readers?

What do you want to accomplish in 2009?

Once you know where you are are, take those same notes and decide where you want to be in 2009. What do you need to do, acquire, or learn to get to that point?

Write out your 2009 plan and keep it handy

Write it down and keep it in your purse, post it at your desk, tape it to the bathroom mirror. Keep it in front of you, so you are always thinking about it. Constant attention to your goals will help you achieve them.

Review your plan regularly

I recommend reviewing your plan at least once a month, but once a week is better. Follow the same format and look at Inventory, Submitting, and Marketing. Where are you at right now? Where do you want to be? What do you need to do this week to get there?

Other Resources

What are your writing goals for 2009?

Goal Setting Strategies

8 Steps to Setting (and Achieving) Goals for Writers

What goals have you set for your writing in 2009?

Time for an update on the Twitter Project. Bet you didn’t know it was actually a project. A project (especially one with an official name like The Twitter Project) sounds a lot more interesting than “something I’m trying out to see how it works.”

I started “tweeting” on October 6. Twitter asks you “What are you doing?” Most of my posts are answers to that question. “Working on a newsletter issue.” “Watching Bridezillas. Are these brides for real?” “New blog post…” Stuff like that. Doesn’t seem very interesting, does it? Pretty ordinary, daily life stuff. I think that my posts are dull and boring, but I found that I like reading about the daily activities and thoughts of the people that I’m following. I kind of feel a connection to them.

I currently have 55 followers after two months on Twitter. I’ve never actively pursued getting followers, unless you count putting a link to Twitter on my website. I have found though, that if you follow someone else, there’s a strong chance they’ll follow you back in return. Unless they’re super popular with a thousand or more followers. Then you probably won’t get a reciprocal follow. But searching out people to follow seems to be the best way to get more followers for yourself.

So why do you want more followers? Well, Twitter is one of the social media sites. It lets you be “social” and connect with people who have similar interests. For writers, it lets you connect with other writers and readers. That can translate to fans for your novels.

Next up on the Twitter Project is trying out a method to see if I can actively grow my follower list. Given the reciprocal nature of Twitter (the tendency to follow others that follow you), I don’t think it will be too hard. The hard part will be thinking of interesting things to say to all those followers.

Stay tuned for more updates.

Most of us writers would prefer to spend all of our time writing and zero time promoting our books. However, in the new Web 2.0 world, time spent promoting or marketing our books is nearly essential. Unless you want to be like this poor fellow…

What methods have you used or seen used to promote books on the web?

Introverts. They have it tough at times in our “always on”, Bluetooth-Borg kind of world. So much talking, so many people. And writers who are introverts have it even worse. How do you promote yourself and your book when the thought of talking to people just drains the life out of you?

(And to clarify, introverted doesn’t mean shy. It means that you draw energy from inside yourself. Extroverts draw energy from other people. Which are you? When you’re mentally tired, how do you recharge–by being alone or by being with other people?)

There’s a website dedicated to helping introverted writers with marketing themselves and their books — Shrinking Violet Promotions. It’s run by Robin LeFever and Mary Hershey. The best part about their site for me is simply the validation that comes from being with other introverts.

You should definitely check out some of their posts:

Introvert Abuse and Marketing Avoidance Profile

Writing Blurbs or How To Make Your Head Explode

Rerun: Pimpin’

Controlling What We Can

James Chartrand from Men With Pens offers this advice to find your inspiration again in Writing Inspiration: How to Break Through Mental Barriers over at WriteToDone.

1. Simulate a scenario – What’s the worst thing that can happen if you write the piece you’re having trouble with?
2. Validate your feelings – Don’t avoid your fear or uncomfortableness about your writing. Acknowledge the feelings and keep going.
3. Confirm your reality – Don’t trust your perceptions about your writing. Challenge your assumption that it is bad and get an objective opinion.

To these suggestions, I’d add… just sit down to write. Set a timer for five minutes and just write, no matter how bad, confusing or incoherent your words might be. Just write.

If five minutes is too long, then write one sentence and walk away. Come back later in the day and write another. Remember, it doesn’t have to be perfect. It doesn’t even have to be any good. Just write a sentence. You might find that writing one sentence at different times throughout the day moves you past your block.

What other methods do you use to get inspired?