Purple Hearts

I love new beginnings. The beginning of a new project is no different then any other new relationship.Every year when school started, I would have to get organized just so. I loved it.

I shared my locker with my 3 closest friends (it was in the premier location) and so I color coordinated my things to be able to find everything quickly:

English: Blue notebook, folder and book cover

History: Yellow notebook, folder and book cover

Math: Red notebook, folder and book cover

You get the idea. At first, everyone laughed at me, but they slowly noticed how quickly I could grab my stuff, have time to chat and get to class. And I always had the right things for the right class.The concept stuck with me.

I currently have three WIPs – and, while they’ve overlapped a little, they all start with their own colors.

YA Fantasy – Red. Red accordion folder, red notebook, red (ok pink) post its.

Historical Romance is all about Blue.

Short tongue-in-cheek contempt is a Green work all the way.

But the colors don’t stop there.  My editing pen colors are very specific as well, and this superstition has a tight hold on me. I once had to stop editing when my purple pen died to buy another one – a different color just wouldn’t do.The first run through of my Fast Draft work is in green. I love green pens and I know the FD is going to have a lot of edits, so I might as well love the color. Second run through edits are printed on the other side of the green edits and are purple.

With the two colored pens I know I’m always being consistent on which copy I’m looking at. I never grab the wrong set of edits.And then a new sheet of red pen edits – hopefully close to the final draft.

Now I can’t start a new project without it being assigned a color. I hadn’t realized this until a co-worker pointed it out, but it’s absolutely true.

I know superstitions are silly but growing up around a very superstitious Irish grandmother can definitely make you hold on to things. It works for me and it’s practical, so I choose to just call it organizing.

Go get organized and then, Go Write.

-bria