May I Have Your Permission, Please?

Let’s face it. Writers are creative people, and creative people are often thought of as messy and disorganized. But think about this for a minute. If you’ve ever looked at an artist’s studio or a writer’s desk, what are you seeing? To a casual observer, the studio or office might look like a mess. But odds are that what you are seeing is organized chaos. An artist who couldn’t just reach out and grab the right brush would be quickly frustrated. A writer who couldn’t just reach out and grab the right reference book from the bookshelf would be equally frustrated. At the same time, keeping everything in nice neat, color-coordinated stacks isn’t as necessary as being able to grab the item needed quickly while working. The creative person is simply organized in a creative way.

In contrast, an engineer or tax accountant is more likely to have everything organized in a methodical system. This works for them.  Is one organizational style better than other? Not really. Stereotypes aside, the best organizational method is the one that works for you.

This brings us to permissions work.  Permissions work requires a lot of attention to very mundane details. So no matter what your organizational style, the first step to doing permissions work is getting organized. What information do you already have? What do you need? My next post will help you answer these two basic questions.

© 2009 Anne Wallingford. All Rights Reserved.