The 3 Systems Every Author Needs (And How to Set Them Up)
From Brain Dump to Breakthrough: Building the Systems That Keep You Sane
Last week, we tackled a simple but critical step: the brain dump.
I had you dump everything out of your brain and onto a page—tasks, projects, life admin, half-baked ideas, and those random to-dos that only seem to show up at 3 AM.
If you actually did it (and I hope you did), you probably ended up with a chaotic, messy, stress-inducing pile of notes that looks like a panic attack in bullet-point form.
That’s good. That’s exactly what we want.
Because before we can get organized, before we can streamline, automate, and actually get things done without feeling like a squirrel on espresso, we have to see the full picture.
And this week? We’re starting the process of making sense of it all.
I say starting because we’re not slapping color-coded labels on everything just yet. We still have a few more building blocks before this all clicks into place, but today, we’re taking a huge step forward: sorting through the chaos and defining the first key categories that will bring order to the madness.
By the end of this process, you’ll have a clear, customized workflow that works for you—not some rigid system that looks great in theory but crumbles the moment life throws a curveball.
And today? We’re kicking things off with one of the most effective organization systems I’ve found: PARA.
Let’s dig in. 🚀
The Three Systems You Need to Keep Your Life in Order
Task management is just one piece of the puzzle—and if you only focus on that, you’ll end up with an endless list of tasks and no real structure. (Which is exactly how you end up rewriting the same to-do list over and over, feeling like you’re working hard but somehow getting nowhere.)
So instead of just managing tasks, let’s review the three core systems that will actually keep you on track:
1️⃣ A Project Management System – The Home for Your Big-Picture Work
This is where your major projects live—the ones that take more than a single sitting to complete. They also have a start and end date. Think:
✔️ Writing a new book? That’s a project.
✔️ Setting up your author website? Project.
✔️ Planning your next email newsletter series? Yep—also a project.
A good project management system ensures that nothing gets lost, forgotten, or buried under a pile of “I’ll get to it later” sticky notes.
And remember last week’s rule? Everything needs to live in ONE PLACE.
You do not want half your book launch plan in a Trello board, a few deadlines in your Notes app, and the rest of it scribbled on an old receipt you found in your coat pocket. That’s how chaos wins.
📌 Where should this live? Wherever you’ll actually use it.
Digital options: Notion, Trello, ClickUp, Basecamp, Asana, a well-organized Google Doc.
Paper options: A structured planner, a bullet journal, or a notebook that you don’t abandon after three days.
The key here? Commit to a single place for tracking projects. Your future self will thank you.
2️⃣ A Calendar System – Your Reality Check for Time
Your calendar is your source of truth for what’s happening when. If it has a specific date or time, it goes on the calendar. No exceptions.
✔️ Book release dates
✔️ Conference speaking gigs
✔️ Editing deadlines
✔️ Scheduled writing sessions
Ever looked at your to-do list, felt ambitious, and scheduled way too much in one day? Then by noon, you’re staring at your list like "Oh. Oh no. This was a mistake.”
Your calendar helps prevent that by showing you where your time actually goes—so you don’t try to do 12 hours of work in a 6-hour day.
📌 Where should this live?
Digital options: Google Calendar, Apple Calendar, Fantastical, or whatever actually syncs across your devices.
Paper options: A wall calendar, planner, or notebook—but only if you’re checking it daily.
3️⃣ A Daily Task System – Where the Work Actually Happens
Unlike your project manager (big-picture) and your calendar (deadlines), your daily task system is all about what needs action today.
✔️ Write 1,000 words
✔️ Send an email to your cover designer
✔️ Schedule social media posts
✔️ Outline next month’s newsletter
This is your action list—the place where you decide, what am I working on today?
📌 Where should this live?
Digital options: Todoist, Things, a dedicated Notion dashboard, or a simple Notes app.
Paper options: A bullet journal, planner, or even a sticky note on your desk (as long as it’s not floating away under a coffee cup).
Blending Systems: Why One Size Doesn't Fit All
Now, here’s where things get really important.
I don’t subscribe to just one method of productivity. I steal (or, if you prefer, curate) from multiple systems and frameworks because no one system is perfect for the way my brain works.
Some days I lean into time blocking, other days I rely on smart lists and automations to keep me on track.
And today? We’re pulling in one of the most powerful organization systems I’ve found: PARA.
The PARA Method: Organizing Your Whole Life in 4 Buckets
If you’re someone who has notes scattered across ten different apps, half your life living in your email inbox, and important documents stored under “New_Final_Updated_2.docx” … then you’re not alone.
Most of us have never been taught how to properly organize our work and life in a way that makes information easy to find when we actually need it.
And that’s exactly why the PARA Method, created by Tiago Forte, is so effective—it’s simple, powerful, and adaptable to whatever tools you’re already using.
At its core, PARA is about sorting everything you do, manage, or need into four clear categories:
🔹 Projects – Active things you're working on right now.
A project is anything that has a specific goal and an end date. This could be:
✔️ Writing your next book
✔️ Planning a book launch
✔️ Setting up a new email automation in FluentCRM
✔️ Overhauling your author website
If it’s something you’re actively working on and it has a clear endpoint, it belongs in Projects.
🔹 Areas – The Ongoing Responsibilities of Your Life
Unlike Projects, Areas never really end—they are long-term responsibilities that need regular attention.
Think about the major categories in your life that always require some level of upkeep:
✔️ Your business
✔️ Your personal finances
✔️ Your health & well-being
✔️ Your relationships
For authors, that might include:
✔️ Marketing & Audience Growth
✔️ Publishing (your backlist, future books, etc.)
✔️ Finances (tracking royalties, tax prep, budgeting)
✔️ Writing (because let's be real, that’s always ongoing)
💡 Example:
Let’s say you’re an indie author managing multiple books. Your Projects might include:
“Launch new book in June”
“Write first draft of my next novel”
But your Areas would be:
“Publishing” (ongoing book management)
“Marketing” (regular updates, ad tracking, social media)
“Writing” (all your future creative work)
This distinction is important—your book launch is a Project with an endpoint, but your author career is an Area that continues indefinitely.
🔹 Resources – Your Personal Library of Knowledge
This is where you store reference materials, notes, and anything you might need later—but don’t need right now.
✔️ Course notes from a publishing workshop
✔️ A list of book promo sites
✔️ Email templates for reader outreach
✔️ Industry articles about direct sales
Instead of cluttering up your Projects or Areas, all of this goes into Resources so you can find it when you need it, but not have it distract you from your actual work.
💡 Example:
Let’s say you’re running Amazon ads and learning how to optimize them. You’ve taken a few courses and bookmarked helpful blog posts.
If you’re actively working on improving your ads, it’s a Project.
If running Amazon ads is a normal part of your business, it lives in Areas.
If you’re just storing information to revisit later, it belongs in Resources.
Think of Resources as your personal knowledge management (PKM) system—your archive of all the valuable things you don’t want to forget.
🔹 Archives – The Graveyard of Finished (or Abandoned) Projects
Not everything stays active forever. Projects get completed, Areas change, and some ideas just don’t pan out.
Archives is where you store all of that just in case you need it later.
✔️ Finished book launch plans
✔️ Past client work
✔️ Old social media campaign notes
✔️ Retired business projects
It’s out of sight but not gone forever.
💡 Example:
You successfully launched your latest book. Yay! 🎉 That Project is now complete, but instead of deleting everything, you move the launch plan and promo tracking sheet into Archives.
That way, when you launch your next book, you already have a blueprint instead of starting from scratch.
Step One: Define Your Areas
If you did the brain dump last week, you probably noticed that a lot of your tasks, notes, and ideas naturally fit into categories—even if they’re a chaotic mess right now.
These Areas aren’t projects—they’re ongoing categories of life that will always require attention.
📌 For example, here’s how my Areas are set up:
Indie Author Magazine (publishing, team management, articles, etc.)
Indie Author Training (courses, workshops, automation guides)
Author Nation (community, events, networking)
Personal (doctor appointments, family schedules, etc.)
Finance (business & personal money management)
Personal Development (courses, speeches, training I’m taking)
Publishing (my own books, audiobooks, direct sales projects)
Travel (because, let’s be real, I’m always on the move)
Illustrating PARA in Action
Let’s say you’re gearing up for a book launch.
📌 Here’s how PARA keeps everything organized:
📄 Project: Next Book Launch
📂 Area: Publishing
📝 Resource: Best practices for book launches (from Indie Author Magazine, naturally)
📊 Archive: Checklist from your last launch
Everything has a home, and you always know where to find it.
Another example: You just finished an amazing course on writing better email newsletters.
If you’re actively working through the course, it’s a Project.
If email marketing is an ongoing part of your business, it’s an Area.
If you want to save the course materials for later, they go into Resources.
If you finished the course and don’t need it right now, move it to Archives.
See how this makes everything so much easier to manage?
Step Two: Make PARA Work for You
As you know by now, I don’t use any system exactly as it was designed. I take big ideas and make them my own—and you should too.
For example, in my own system, I’ve renamed Areas as “Tags.” If you ever see a screenshot from me and get confused, that’s why! I needed my system to match the way my brain processes information, so I tweaked it.
You should do the same. PARA isn’t a rulebook—it’s a framework. Customize it in a way that works for you.
Your Action Step This Week
This week, define your Areas.
✅ Go back to your brain dump from last week and start sorting things into categories.
✅ Create your own Areas based on what matters in your life and work.
✅ Don’t overthink it! Start simple—you can refine as you go.
Next week, we’ll take it one step further—setting up the actual workflow that ties all of this together so you can stop feeling scattered and start working with clarity. And we’ll start to build some automations to sync and link them together.
And as always—hit reply and tell me: What’s the most unexpected Area you created? I guarantee someone has “Pet Squirrel Management” or “Experimental Cheese Making” in their list, and I need to know. 😂
Until next week—keep building systems that work for your creative brain.
So is PARA an actual program or just your overall theme for organization?