I am not an outliner. I’ve said this before. But I want to tell you about a way I’ve found that helps me keep track of where I am in my novel that’s been in progress for a while now.

Joseph Wambaugh gave me the idea. He lines the walls of his office with butcher paper and goes around the room writing down what goes on in his novel (I’m not sure he does this for nonfiction, though I could be wrong).

I no longer work in a room of my own, (which is fine with me–I don’t miss it. Actually, the silence was distracting!) so I can’t line my walls with butcher paper.

What I did was take one of those big rollers of newsprint that my son used to draw on–and occasionally still does–and I went through my book through chapter 17 or so, and sketched out each chapter and the major occurrences within that chapter. I use a device of photographs throughout the book and I wrote those in red, so I can keep track of where the photos are. I wrote down when characters enter the story. Things that are so easy to lose track of when you’re writing a novel.

It’s not exactly an outline because it comes after the point. But it helps me to keep track.

Other writers–Anne Lamott for one–use 3×5 cards (I believe she strings hers up on a clothesline in her office).

Organization of your material has got to be one of the most difficult things in writing a novel. How do you keep track? I’m all ears.