Create a Journal or Project Log

Journaling is a powerful way to jump-start your writing. Many writing experts suggest that you write something in a journal every day. In our high-tech world, maybe you can't stand the idea of writing long-hand in an old fashioned paper journal.

IdeaWeaver is great for blasting in random thoughts, impressions and ideas, so why not use it as a journal? Simply organize your ideas by date. Put the date in the idea title in yyyy-mm-dd format, so they will sort properly.

Over time, you may find that you have common themes that develop. You can keep track of these themes by creating topics and associating your journal entries with them.

Create a Customer Project Log

Another way to use IdeaWeaver for date-based information is for a customer project log. You can use categories to define what type of project you are documenting, such as a procedure or reference materials. Then you can use topics to cross-reference the log entries by date and project.

For example, date-related topics can use a format like "Log: 2007-10-29." The "Log:" prefix keeps those topics together in the topic list, and entering the date as yyyy-mm-dd keeps them sorted properly. The project topics are prefixed with "Project:" so they stay together as well. You too can use this prefixing technique in any IdeaWeaver project to group your topics.

When you work on a project for this customer, keep IdeaWeaver open and add new idea entries as you work. Create a new "Log:" topic for each day and associate all of the entries you work on with that date.

Turn on topic filtering on so you only see the entries for the current day. To add information to an entry from a prior day, click that date's topic and drag the desired entry to today's topic. Then click back on today's topic to see the updated idea list.

It's easier than it sounds, but as your project gets larger and larger, filtering the idea list becomes essential. This screen shows a project log filtered by topic. (You can tell it's filtered because the panes are yellow.)

Click this link to try out IdeaWeaver FREE now!
You also get a free ecourse and report called "Get Unstuck! 15 Ways to Jumpstart Your Creativity, Get Organized, and Finish Your Writing Project"