How to Keep an Ideas File as a Journalist

“Your job is to collect good ideas. The more good ideas you collect, the more you can choose from to be influenced by.” —Austin Kleon.

Ideas are a writer’s most precious commodity. As the above quote rightly states, our main job is finding new stories and figuring out interesting ways to tackle well-worn topics and issues.

But ideas are no good to us if we don’t remember them and they’re never actualized. That’s why we need a system in place to record, store, and organize our ideas in one central, accessible file.

Unfortunately, good ideas have a nasty habit of popping up at the most inconvenient times; while driving, in the middle of a movie, at 3 a.m., or in the shower. We always mean to write them down when we get a chance, but life inevitably gets in the way, and we forget.

As a freelance writer/journalist working from home at the kitchen table, I often scribble down ideas on random scraps of paper, whatever happens to be nearby, the energy bill envelope or the grocery store receipt. Numerous long neglected (and sparse) ‘Story Ideas’ documents also clutter up my desktop. 

It’s like a treasure hunt trying to find my notes. That envelope might easily end up in the shredder or recycling bin, the receipt crumpled into a ball and tossed in the trash. The glorious, potential prize-winning stories lost forever. I’ve flipped through old notebooks and discovered long forgotten ideas scattered among to-do lists and New Year goals.

I wasn’t always so disorganized. As a full-time journalist and producer, I was meticulous about keeping an active and organized ideas file and contact book. Since I worked on a weekly newspaper and later weekly television shows, I needed a constant flow of ideas for potential stories, either to act upon immediately, to pitch at meetings, or keep for future reference. I didn’t have the time for scavenger hunts back then.

So, I’ve decided to devise a simple, but effective system, incorporating methods used in previous workplaces, modern technology, and new processes that fit my freelance lifestyle.

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Back in the day, before I had an iPhone and laptop, I stored materials in a manila folder, including physical notes, idea lists, and newspaper or magazine clippings. Now of course there are many more options for capturing and organizing ideas.

A good system should have one central file where all ideas and notes are stored, and this can be on your laptop, computer, or whatever device you use. Many may still prefer the tangible—a folder, index cards, or a large notebook. This should be clearly marked, well organized and easily accessible.

This way you can streamline the writing process and make the writing life much easier.

As well as a central home for your materials, you also need a method for immediately recording ideas when they arise. There are many ways to do this effectively. You can go old school and use a notebook, but make sure you use the same one, and that it’s small enough to carry around. The iPhone Notes app is my favorite along with Voice Memos to verbally record ideas. Since most of us are glued to our phones all day, maybe the apps are the easier options.

Here are a few more tips to keep you organized and disciplined.

General Ideas File

This is the place to transfer all the notes and ideas you’ve gathered in notebooks and on devices and categorize them. Having a central place, a home—whether it’s a physical manila folder or a file on your laptop—helps you avoid scrambling around looking for scraps of paper or trying to find notes on different phone apps, when it’s time to choose what stories to pitch.

If you’re home when the muse strikes, this is the best place to jot down ideas as they come to you. Many writers keep a notebook and pen by their beds, as ideas can strike in the middle of the night or just upon awakening.

List by Category

In addition to your general ideas file, you can create a separate document or spreadsheet, (however you prefer to list information), under different categories such as quotes, sayings, data, and so on. Most journalists and writers habitually take notes while reading articles, books, or maybe after an interesting conversation. 

This is where you can list these snippets you come across. They could be interesting facts, important data, fascinating people, a link to a scientific study, sayings, and maybe even your feelings about a place, an event, or person. These notes can be used either to reference in future articles, as a central theme, or a story peg.

List by Immediacy

If the idea coincides with a special date, month, or holiday, such as Christmas, Mother’s Day, Black History Month, and needs to be pitched well in advance, then file it accordingly. You can also have an urgent category for other time sensitive stories.

List by Article Types

Would this idea work best as a feature, news item, blog, profile, Q&A, or personal essay? This streamlines the process even further and can save a lot of time.

Include the Details

Jot down the date of your idea and where/how it came up. If it involved a conversation with someone, be sure to include their name and if possible, contact information. You may need to get in touch for a follow up or even interview them for your piece. 

If it’s a quote from an article, list the date, publication, and byline. If it’s a book, include the title and author. If you watched, listened to, or read something online that inspired you, just grab the link and include a few notes to remind yourself why you found it interesting. Many good ideas happen in the moment and if you don’t include your thoughts at the time, chances are you won’t remember them later.

Suggest Publications

Under each idea, jot down some suggestions of publications that are a possible good fit. This is important as you may have just read an article in a magazine that sparked your idea. If you don’t note this detail, you may easily forget in a few weeks.

Keep Clippings

If you do read print publications such as newspapers and magazines and there’s an interesting article, clip it, and save it. You can either keep it in a folder or scan it and include it in your central file.

List Your Articles

Keep a list of all your published articles with links or a scan if it’s print only. In the future, you may want to write a follow up piece, include links in a pitch to an editor, or reference something you’ve written.

As a journalist or writer, your life will become so much easier when all your ideas, facts, information, and article links are stored neatly in one place.