I excavated some memories from deep within the burial grounds of an old filing cabinet. Here’s an example of how I used to track article submissions. This little devotional (saved on white carbon tissue) had some adventures and ultimately found a home at Living With Hope for a grand payment of $9.00. At 20 cents to mail and 20 cents for a SASE, I would have made a grand total of $7.00 for about 300 words.
I say “would have” because the magazine went out of business before publishing the article, and I never heard from them again.
Anyway, this is how I tracked those early submissions. And I used different colored stickers on the files–yellow for still brewing, green for traveling, red for crash and burn, and blue for an acceptance. A blue letter day! And a gold star when the piece published and I got paid.
So now that I’m gearing up again in the high tech age, I need a new system–although to be honest, I still kind of like this old way. But since I’m planning to write a lot of little ditties in addition to working on my books, and since I’m all about decluttering and the simple life, I need a little help from my friends.
P.S. My blogs are a little out of control, too. I started by creating Word documents and pasting into Blogger. But now, I create right in Blogger and don’t always remember to save. I’m gonna get burned soon if I don’t straighten up and fly right, as my mom used to tell me.
I have a listing in a notebook, but am thinking I need to do something on the computer. One more thing to get to:)
Have a happy weekend!
Karen
I need a secretary, Karen. I just wanna write!
I forgot that I downloaded Sonar3, a free manuscript tracking tool, found here:
http://www.spacejock.com/Sonar3.html
I haven't learned how to use it yet.
My friend, Lynn Mosher, shared over at ChristianWriters.com how she uses Excel to track her submissions and blog posts.
Another member also shared that she uses Mozy to back up her computer.
I'm an Excel user as well, though haven't yet written enough to need much of an organization system. I'm interested to see more comments. Thanks!
The Lurker also first thought of Excel as an easy option — at least for now. Eventually, you will need something much, much more sophisticated — in those days where I can say "I knew her when…"
Hahahahaha! If I ever need something much, much more sophisticated, I will have to hire the Lurker to keep my life together! Oh wait, she pretty much already does that.
Love ya, Sissy!