Howdy, howdy!  I was recently going through my manuscripts and free writes when I realized that I’m totally unorganized.  It’s all jammed into the same folder on my laptop, except for my main project (that gets its own folder with subfolders and the whole nine yards).  This is really unusual for me.  I don’t like having to scroll through a bunch of stuff to find what I want, let alone having to open multiple files to find the correct version.  That’s just not me.  Yet here I am, sifting through a mess.  It’s weird and uncomfortable, but for some reason, I kind of like it.

Walking into my room, you might not think I’m as organized as I actually like to be.  My desk is a complete mess.  My CDs are no longer alphabetized by band, then chronologically by release date.  There’s no real rhyme or reason to my closets/drawers.  Why?  Because I can’t organize everything myself.  I know my Dad would sit down and organize everything if I asked him to, but I’m not going to waste his time with my quirks.  I know basically where everything is, so I’m not too worried about it.  My computer, however, has folders with subfolders arranged by whatever works.  I’ve gotten a little lax when it comes to organizing my pictures, I admit, but everything else has its own little place.  Usually.  My manuscripts turned out to be a mess I didn’t realize was piling up.

I was looking for a specific story, but I couldn’t remember what I called it and whether it was in its own document or bundled together in one of my free write documents.  I ended up going through three different folders (because apparently I wrote it as an undergrad and never moved it into the current manuscripts folder).  Normally, this would frustrate me to no end.  But I ended up finding a bunch of incomplete ideas that I had totally forgotten about.  Apparently, I have a lot more ideas for novels and short stories than I realized.  A lot of it was useless and stupid, but there were some gems hidden in the muck.

I can admit that it was fun taking the time to look through files I wouldn’t have otherwise given a second glance.  Being super organized means you’re occasionally going to overlook the small stuff.  Most of the time, I’m okay with that.  But I think I might just leave my manuscript folder a little messy.  That way, I’ll be able to take the time to look at those mystery documents once in a while.  But I’m definitely going to take a day or two to get my pictures back in order.  I’m not ready to let loose that much.

So, I guess I’m trying to say that I can see the benefits of being a little disorganized.  I probably won’t ever be the type of person who’s comfortable not knowing where everything is, but I can deal with it.  What about you?  Are you super organized or do you like disorder?