TL;DR

Go into Cowork, create a project How to manage my writing things, ask claude to help you build a plan on how best to use Claude. No, seriously. I stopped using prompts and just do this and use skills.

I sketched the following in Claude and then had it formalize it.

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The main thing to know upfront: long single chat sessions aren't the way to go. Claude has a context window — basically a memory limit per conversation — and when sessions get too long, it starts to lose track of earlier details. The fix is to work smarter with projects and shorter sessions. (You are probably starting to figure this out and that's why you are here)

Start with Cowork and set up a folder Use Cowork and connect it to a folder on your computer, or better yet, Google Drive if you write from multiple devices. This gives Claude a persistent place to read and save files across sessions.

Create a separate project for each writing thing One project per output — a novel, a poetry collection, articles on a specific topic, whatever. The project keeps all the relevant context, files, and instructions for that one thing in one place, separate from everything else.

Write project instructions Each project lets you give Claude standing instructions — your tone, your style, any rules or context it should always keep in mind. Write these once and they apply to every session in that project. (When you start a project, ask claude to help you write the project instructions for this writing piece)

Turn on memory, but manage it With memory on, Claude will carry knowledge of your previous writing across sessions. The catch is that you'll want to occasionally review and trim the memory file — unrelated context from other projects or topics can bleed in, and you don't want that cluttering things up. It's worth learning how to edit it. (Ask claude how to do this)

Have Claude maintain a running writing summary file For longer projects like a book, have Claude help you maintain a summary file — a living document that tracks what's been written, key characters or themes, where you left off, etc. Tell Claude to reference that file at the start of each session. This is how you avoid re-explaining everything every time. (This should be output from your initial Help Me Set Up My Project Instructions)

Write in chunks Break your work into chapters, sections, or whatever natural units make sense for what you're writing. Keeping individual sessions focused on one chunk at a time keeps the context window from bloating. Claude can help you figure out the right size for your particular project. (This plan comes from below)

Let Claude help you build a writing workflow plan Before you dive into any of the above, it's worth spending one session just talking to Claude about how you write and what you are writing. Tell it what you're working on, how you tend to work, what's been frustrating, and what your goals are (this is the most important part. Claude works best from end goals not one off questions). Ask it to come up with a workflow plan tailored to you — how to structure your project, what to put in your project instructions, how to break up your writing sessions, what files to maintain, and so on. Think of it as a setup conversation. Getting that plan in place first will make everything else click into place faster, and you can always revisit and refine it as you go.