Because I write series books, it’s very important that I can keep facts straight;descriptions (which I forget), magical items (which I make up, sooo, that can be hard to remember), and random shit I include that does’t seem important at the time and turns out to be pivotal. Sometimes, people ask me why I don’t remember (Ross is one of those people). “You wrote it. Shouldn’t you remember it?”

I write, rewrite, revise, and then move on. Then time passes. It’s been eight years since I wrote, rewrote, and rewrote again, Pool of Crimson.

So, no. I don’t remember the exact shade of hair from some minor character I created on the fly four books ago. This is the point of a series bible.

When I started, I never really thought about it and just kept writing. I didn’t think anyone was going to publish my crap anyway and wasn’t so invested in a series bible. By book 5 and I had to go back (and search) book 3 for something, I realized my error.

Since I started a new series, I decided to do it right. I have started my bible and I’ve set up my spreadsheets to go back and fill in the Blushing Death Series in the same system, cause I still need that shit. That’s a summer project.

Now, some people have an actual book. Binders and binders full of “stuff”. Or a pin board with miles of post-its. None of that worked for me. I write everywhere. At home. In the car. On vacation. At conferences. During my lunch. I write long hand, type, and dictate. I need to be able access it whenever I need it. That’s when I discovered Airtable.

This website is AMAZING and best of all…IT’S FREE! Well, it’s free to a certain point and, I’ll be honest with you, I started a base for my library. I’m going to go over the number of free records at some point. That number is 1200, by the way, and I’m currently at 935. But, I’ve included audible, ebook, and physical books. So….

I realize that doesn’t make it better but my book hoarding is a separate blog post. Back to the real issue at hand, which is I can’t remember shit.

This is a screenshot of my airtable entry for Hereditary Magic (coming out in October, cough cough – buy my books). Was that subliminal enough? Anyway…

If you can see that, you have way better eyes than me. Thanks screen shots! I tried. I want credit for trying.

I can categorize tabs, characters, settings, ANYTHING I WANT, not only across tabs but within each tab. On top of all that, there’s an app so I can add or just view anything I want from my phone, anywhere I am.

I’ve started using this for everything. Not only my bibles, but tracking expenses for my taxes, inventories for books and movies, and where and when I advertise on social media. I’m a spreadsheet and organizational kinda girl (aka Type A) and this makes me so incredibly happy.

I might have also created a tracker for my husband to use for his job to track leave time. Yeah, I have a problem. I know it.