I organize my life with Wunderlist.

Do you love lists?  Better yet, do you love crossing things off your lists?  If so, you’ll find Wunderlist deeply satisfying.

I use the free version, and there I keep a whole series of lists.  I have one for each book, one for calendar events, one for OCD Twin Cities, etc., etc.  Here’s a list of my lists.

I love the simplicity of this site, love how easy it is to organize everything, and I love the delightful sound it makes when I electronically cross something off one of my lists!

In addition, there is a Wunderlist app that is just as clear and simple and easy to use as the web version.

You should definitely try it.

FutureMe keeps me calm.

I can’t tell you how much I love this site.  I tend to use it frequently when I am most stressed out or when I have learned a lesson that I want to remember later.  The point of the site is simple: send an email off to yourself in the future.  You can set the date that you’d like to receive it (it must be at least one month away).  It’s so delightful, and it’s so much fun to receive an email from the past.

See how easy it is?  During my past six-week revision that was so intense, I sent myself a note into the future almost every day.  It was a way for my stressed-out, burning-the-candle-at-both-ends self to reach out to a time where I believed I’d be calm again.  It was a way to tap into hope, the hope that life would not always be so overwhelming.

I ask and answer questions on Quora.

Obviously, the internet is an amazing tool for research.  I use it every single day.  But the internet as a whole is also huge and overwhelming and sometimes impersonal.  Sometimes you want to ask questions of real people.  Quora is great for that.

On this site, you can ask questions. Anonymously, if you want.Then, you can send your question directly to people who might know answers.  Some people are “free” to ask, and some people require “points.”  You accumulate points by being active in the Quora community– and you get an allowance from Quora as well.

I love it.  I absolutely love it. And the people on Quora are amazing: highly intellectual, people who love to think, people who are capable, articulate, and interesting. The answers you get are so solid.

Truest was set in small-town Minnesota, and since that’s where I grew up, I didn’t have many questions about that way of life.  However, my next novel is set in the Pacific Northwest.  On an island.  I have no experience with these things, and it’s been so good to reach out to people who live on small islands, people who live in the Pacific Northwest, people who know details about Seattle neighborhoods and foods, etc.

Plus, you can also answer other people’s questions!  It’s so fun to be the “expert” for once!

What websites make your life easier?  I’d love to hear your favorites!