Not everyone organizes their books the same way, so I wanted to present a great idea for organizing your chapter contents that doesn’t involve a notebook or computer.

The way I typically write is to outline my book in a Word document and then write under each chapter heading what I plan on discussing. But if you prefer something that you can easily see and work with, you might try using a big piece of poster board and Post-it Notes.

Why is this better than typing on your computer?

If you’re working on a non-fiction book, like your own inspiring story, you may want to play with where the different subtopics go. It’s much easier to do this in the real world than on a computer if you want to get a visual idea of balance within the book.

Also, using Post-its is a different medium, so it gives your eyes and your brain something different to look at, which can help break writer’s block, if that’s holding you up with your writing.

Plus, it’s good to give your eyes a break from your computer anyway. You may not know this, but looking at a computer screen not only strains your eyes, but it also leads to them being drier than if you were reading a book or watching paint dry. Really! My ophthalmologist explained this to me when I couldn’t figure out why my eyes always felt like they were bleeding. You blink less frequently when you do close reading, especially on a computer screen. Eye drops help, but a break works better!

Once you have an idea of your chapter topics, you are ready to start.

Let’s do this!

First, run to the store and focus on only purchasing the items you need for your project. Focus. (If you are shopping in Target, go straight to the school supplies aisle and then straight to checkout!) You need one piece of poster board and one pack of same color Post-it notes (a different color from the poster board). Pick something that will be gentle on your eyes, if possible. Dodge the neon colors, as appealing as they may be, because staring at them and trying to read the writing on them is also hard on your eyes.

Next, add your chapter headings on the poster board. Try to space them out evenly so you have adequate space to play with the organization of sub-topics.

Then, write your ideas for the subtopics on your Post-it notes and place them under the different chapter headings where you initially think they will belong.

Having your book laid out this way may lead you to notice imbalance among the chapters. Look for too many sub-topics under a chapter heading and determine if you really want to discuss all of that under one heading, or if it would be better suited for two or three chapters. You may also notice that some of your chapter headings would fit better under a different chapter heading.

Once you have all the subheadings arranged, some of the chapters may seem short on information. Using the poster board and Post-its method gives you the freedom to develop other fitting subtopics if balance is one of your goals.

Here’s the best part: you can easily play with where the subheadings sit and step back from the board. You don’t have to make a commitment to the layout until you are ready. You can continue to mess with the layout for a week if you want!

When you like which chapters you have placed your subheadings under, start arranging them in an order that makes sense within the chapter. You want it to be conversational or step-wise so the reader won’t feel like you dumped a bunch of disorganized information on them.

Finally, when everything looks good, copy the chart into your notes to flesh out your book.

You may want to leave the board somewhere for easy reference in case you want to plan certain chunks of the book or list what you have included in marketing materials. You certainly don’t want to re-read the book or dig around when you could easily look at your chart for answers.

Tell me how you like to organize your books! I’d love to share some of your methods in future posts!