My Writing Toolbox, Pt. 2: Filing Systems, Reference Books, & Miscellaneous Hardware

by K.M. Weiland @ Wordplay

For better or for worse, writers aren’t among that breed of craftsmen who need to tote the tools of their trade around in huge toolbox. But, if you’ll allow me to extend last week’s “toolbox” metaphor a bit further, I’d like to give you a peek at the tools I keep in the final three sections of my own personal box.

Filing System

Filing Cabinet

For the time being, I use a two-drawer aluminum filing cabinet. At the rate it’s filling up, however, I’ll probably have to trade it in for a newer model in less time than I want to think about. I utilize a simple filing system, in which each category heading is assigned a number (e.g. “Aircraft” is A-10, “American Civil War” is A-20, “American Colonies” is A-30, etc.). I use a Word doc to keep a running list of all my filed material. Every time I add an article to a folder, I type its title under the appropriate heading in my Word doc. This way, whenever I’m in search of a particular piece information and can’t remember under what heading I’ve filed it, I can simply run a search in Word and find it in a jiffy.

Bulletin Board

My bulletin boards don’t really qualify as a filing system; they’re more of a catch-all. My desk (a computer cabinet) features a bulletin board on the inside of each doors, and I use them to tack up quotes I want to remember (both about life and about writing), photos, maps, a calendar, and various other personal junk.

Reference Books

Dictionary

Through no other preference than happenstance, I’ve always used The Random House Dictionary of the English Language. Other than the fact that this version does not document the date at which words were coined, I’ve never had a complaint with it, and, in fact, I’ve found it generally superior to other dictionaries. One trick I’ve found useful in utilizing a dictionary is to underline a word when I look it up. Then, whenever I notice an underlined word, I make a point to read it over. These days, there’s hardly a page to be found without an underlined word or two!

Thesaurus

It took me a long time to find a thesaurus with which I was satisfied. For years, I tried old stand-bys such as Roget’s and Merriman-Webster, but I was disappointed by their organization and lack of comprehensiveness, respectively. But when I stumbled across J.I. Rodale’s big red book, The Synonym Finder, I finally had a thesaurus that fulfilled all my needs. (However, I should add that the Encarta dictionary mentioned last week also includes a splendid thesaurus among its features.)

Foreign Language Dictionaries

Because many of my stories take place in far-flung regions of the world, I make extensive use of a variety of foreign language dictionaries. I can’t necessarily recommend the volumes I use as the best, but for my purposes, they serve very well. I use Cassell’s Latin & English Dictionary, The University of Chicago’s Spanish-English/English-Spanish Dictionary, Larousse’s French-English/English-French Dictionary, and Arabic Without a Teacher by Alec R. Cury. Since I’m no diction expert in any of these languages, I use these manuals only as a general guideline, then seek expert confirmation elsewhere (often through the great free Internet resource AllExperts).

Name Books

I’m a novelist, so, naturally, I’m rather obsessed about finding the perfect name for each and every character. My old stand-by name book (which has been used so often, it’s now falling apart) is The Greatest Baby Name Book Ever by Carol McD. Wallace. This one’s pretty comprehensive (not to mention entertaining), but the one thing that always frustrated me was how difficult it was to locate names based on their ethnic origins. So I recently purchased Sherrilyn Kenyon’s Character Naming Sourcebook which organizes names alphabetically, by origin, and by popularity according to year. I also have a copy of Favourite Irish Names for Children by Laurence Flanagan hanging around, just in case I ever get around to writing about an Irish character.

Miscellaneous Hardware

Printer

Despite the disadvantage of comparatively expensive ink, I’ve been very happy my HP Officejet 4215xi All-in-One. It features a color printer, a scanner, a copier, and a fax machine (which I’ve never figured out how to work) and has never given me more than lick of trouble in the three years I’ve owned it.

Flash Drive

Because I work off a desktop computer, I’d be hard pressed to live without the mobility provided me by a flash drive. That said, I have to admit that I’ve yet to purchase a traditional flash drive; my 4G Nano iPod has fulfilled all my needs on that score so far.

So now that I’ve dumped my tools out for your inspection, I’d love to hear about what’s lurking about in the shadowy corners of your own specialized toolbox!