I have an Evernote account, which I recently upgraded because I ran out of storage space in the free plan. Once I filled up memory space with the free plan, I was unable to access Evernote on more than one device.
So how do I organize my notes and ideas in Evernote? Well, I use what the system calls “Notebooks” (folders) in which I file my notes, article clippings, and whatever else can be saved to that notebook. I file my notebook according to a specific project, and write the name including the genre and title as thus: “Novel WARDING OFF REALTY,” for example. This helps to group what I conceptualizer as novels, as novellas, as short stories, and poems. Then there are some notebooks that I keep that aren’t project related such as notes from writing workshops I attended, or my website content.
Here’s an iPhone snapshot of what my Evernote notebook list looks like:
You may notice at the top of that screenshot the date I registered at Evernote: August 2012. You can imagine that I have a massive collection of notebooks stuffed with notes. It’s one thing to conceive an idea for a book; it’s an entirely different topic to flesh it out and write it. Alas, I’m only one person, and I can only actively work on so many books and other projects simultaneously.
Then there’s my handy notebook which I carry around with me, but it’s not as well organized as my Evernote. Evernote can be used in a variety of ways (written notes, audio, photos, etc.) across a multitude of fields, but the aforementioned paragraphs are how I use Evernote for my outlines, character sketches, and research notes.
Teresa Edmond-Sargeant is an award-winning journalist and author. She released her first collection of short stories “Inner Demons” in October 2020. She is the author of the short story ebooks “Eve the First,”“For My Sister,” and “Sammy’s Butterflies.” She will release her poetry ebook “A Symphony of Silence” in early 2021 and her debut novel “Warding Off Reality” in August 2021.