As part of my procrastination I try to read ‘Improving books’ which support the creative and business side of life as a writer.

One business writer who is new to me is Scott Belsky who has his own management firm 99percent [ as in the Thomas Edison quote; Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration ] and is the author of the book ‘Making Ideas Happen,’ which is theoretically intended for those in the creative industries.

Since I came from a business background I found many of the ideas in the blurb for this book quite familiar, but I took the time to download the free PDF and printed it out to read over coffee this morning.

And the first chapter hit me with an insight I had not thought about for some time.

Scott is talking about how to apply order to the many elements of a creative project – and especially how to make your creative ideas have the most Impact.

He uses the following equation [ yes, I know, but stick with me here ]

CREATIVITY x ORGANISATION = IMPACT

We all know people who have tons of ideas and creativity but little or no organisational skills – and the result is that they can be wildly creative but achieve very little in the way of output and tangible results for their genius thinking. Loads of half formed ideas but none of them are fully realised or developed.

So is their Creativity =100 and Organisation = 0, the Impact = 100 x 0 = Zero. Nothing.

On the other hand, a creative person with limited time with stellar organisation skills will make a greater impact than the disorganised genius by producing an end result [ art, writing, film etc] which allows their ideas to have an Impact.

So if their Creativity = 50, and Organisation =2, the Impact = 50 x 2 = 100. Ideas in the world.

THIS Is why I have the utmost admiration for the romance writers I am privileged to call my pals – you know who you are – who have children at home and day jobs and a social life – and still produce the work. They are organised and efficient and know that if they want their creative ideas to be realised then they have to organise their lives accordingly.

Personal Take -Away?

When I was working fulltime on the day job I was uber organised, but now, almost 9 years later [ which is totally scary] I realise that I have made a horrible mistake.

I have allowed the work to fill the available time. The 1500 words I could have written in an hour before crashing to bed now fills a morning.

I hang my head in shame.

Yes, I know that I have written 4 books in the past 12 months with that pattern. But believe me, that is nothing close to what I could produce if I was truly organised .

So. Wake up call.

I have loads of ideas and novels stuck in a box file out of sight. And I want my ideas to have impact – because if I don’t, these stories will never be read.

So what am I going to do to be organised about making this happen?

A 30 day new process. Starting tomorrow. 01 August. Pop back then to see what the plan is. EEK!