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How to Make a Table of Contents
Tips and Tricks
Over time, enough people have asked me how I made my Table of Contents that I felt I ought to write a piece for it. Somewhere, I believe I have explained it, but whether it was an actual article or buried somewhere in the responses, I can’t find it.
The reason I had a Table of Contents in the first place was to address my own bad memory. At the point of this writing, I have crossed the 500 stories mark. It helps me to answer the question, “Didn’t I already write about that?” On the one hand, who cares? On the other, perhaps I can address a different aspect of the subject and put the URL to the related story at the bottom of the new piece I am writing. I am pecking my way through life, trying to be a better writer.
Win-win.
Also, it actually doesn’t matter if you write about the same subject more than once. We are writers. We are artists. Consider Claude Monet or Georgia O’Keefe and all the flowers they painted. These artists disprove the idea that if you’ve seen it once, you’ve seen it all. Plus, our minds are interesting because life lessons aren’t answered once but in stages, as you move through your life.
Anyway, I try to be an orderly person, at least with what I write. My house may be a mess, but I just don’t have time to spend cleaning it. Also, I can’t see as well anymore, and unless I step in something, I vowed several years ago not to allow minor things like that to bother me.
So, here is my own take on a Table of Contents and how to order the stories. I elected to number the stories, provide a link with the title, and date them. I also mention the publication that published them.
To keep up to date with it, I update at the end of every month, so that’s one of the first of the month things I do. Or the last day of the month. Take a stab at it. You could do it quarterly or with the seasons if you wanted to. Or, like some people do, they group similar pieces into lists and pin those instead. Whatever floats your boat.
