Oops. I forgot that I needed to go in for followup blood work after the first of June. Going to swing by the clinic today and hope that the request is still in the computer. Otherwise I’ll need to call my Rheumatologist’s office, apologize profusely, and have them re-enter it. So yeah, going to have them leech out some blood today. Never my favorite thing, but sadly, it’s become rather commonplace for me.
Writing Stuff
In a fit of procrastination, I did some fiddling with my Excel writing logs. I’ve been sending a lot of submissions out to reprint markets–primarily foreign language ones–and my old calculation formula only kept a tally of the new works I’ve got in circulation, not including the reprints. Haven’t been keeping track of the number of simultaneous submissions either. Admittedly that’s a pretty tiny number since so very few markets are willing to accept simsubs, but I thought I ought to include those in my “what’s out” count. I was astonished to see how many reprint/simsubs I have out there.
Total new works in circulation: 29
Total works out: 49
That’s 20 reprint or simsub submissions! Zounds.
So I really ought to be due for a sale. *twiddles thumb* Any time now.
Right. Enough angsting. Back to work on the WIP.
Hi Eugie, I just friended you back. Cheers!
But mah gawd. Twenty-nine subs out there? Go you!
I’d be interested to see how you keep track of those things!
Would it be easier to keep a separate tab for SimSubs, Resends, and New works?
I keep exceedingly meticulous writing logs–some might say anal even. Here’s a breakdown of my spreadsheets:
Main log – Lists every story out, at which market, date submitted, and time elapsed. Has a separate tab for fairy tales, reprints, and trunked stories. Hyperlinked to individual story logs. Tallies totals of stories out, number of submissions per story, etc.
Sold log – Lists story sold, acceptance date, market, pay, and checklists for contract, pay, and publication. Keeps a tally of total rejections, number of stories sold per year, and other such stats.
Individual story – Organized by genre. Each story has its own tab. Lists submission and sale history with details like number of pages, word count, and postage per story. Hyperlinked to the story manuscript. Also lists future markets to submit to.
Response times – organized by pro, semi-pro, paper, and electronic markets.
And I also keep paper files for rejections, contracts, and other correspondence.
Although it sounds a bit excessive, now that everything’s set up, it’s a very streamlined process. I can see a story’s submission at a glance, as well as get an overview of my general submission pattern, sales history, and yearly progress.
how do you do this with Excel? i’ve been contemplating something similar, but i thought i would need to make an Access database to get that level of complexity. Also, do you have to enter in a piece of information in more than one place, or does it feed to the different spreadsheets?
Excel can be an exceedingly powerful application. I think a spreadsheet is more appropriate for keeping track of submissions than a database unless, I suppose, if you need to generate reports.
You can enter in mathematical functions and formulas in Excel (use the formula bar–that big white bar thing with the fx on the left of it at the top) which can do sums, averages, calculations, and pretty much any mathematical figuring that you need. I basically learned my way around it out by reading up in the Help function about formulas. It’s pretty user friendly.
Excel, like Word, also has the capability to incorporate hyperlinks which allows me to access all of my spreadsheets with a single click from my What’s Out document.
“Also, do you have to enter in a piece of information in more than one place“
For the most part, the data cascades down so I only have to enter it once. In a couple instances, I do enter in data twice, like I don’t have my Response Times spreadsheet linked to my What’s Out spreadsheet, so I log that information separately. But if I ever got really industrious (or bored), I could probably figure out a way to hook that all in.
Wow. That sounds complicated…but fascinatingly so. I’m a compulsive organizer…doesn’t mean I can ever find something, but everything’s organized. 😉 I’ve been wanting to explore Excell for some time; maybe now that I’ve fixed my computer twice in the last month, I’ll have the courage to try. 😀
Right now, I’m using pieces of notepaper with lines separating the different sections; they have room for the date sent out, the title, the genre, the publication it was sent to, when it was returned, and whether it was accepted or not. It works, but it could probably work a lot better. 😀
And wow on the number of stories outstanding…that’s more than I have written so far, I think. I am properly impressed.
Being the person who set up tracking log files in my last two temp jobs, I’ve found myself with a somewhat unhealthy obsession with filing systems. *wry grin*
I actually really like how you’ve done that.
I find most filing systems are hardest to implement, but easy to maintain once they get going.
I’ve been sending a lot of submissions out to reprint markets–primarily foreign language ones
Just curious: where do you find listings for reprint markets?
For the English language ones, I just scour Ralan‘s to see who takes reprints. For the foreign language ones, my primary resource is Douglas Smith’s website
Thanks for sharing, especially Douglas Smith’s website! I’ll have to check it out.
By the way, if you’re not already aware of it, I maintain a links page of market listings on my website.
I officially love both of you.
I don’t have ANY finished short stories (or finished novels at all), but my main procrastination excuse was – “Where would I send them anyhow?”
*bookmarks*
For a few more market listings, I keep a compilation as well on my website (click on the Markets link on the navigation menu).
You are my favorite person of the day. Which will likely extend on into tomorrow.
WOW…that’s a LOT of submissions. I’m so impressed!!!
Best of luck with ALL of them!
Thanks, sweetie!
Forty. Nine. Holy jumping jimminy gee. I think that at my pace, if I started writing now and continued until they put me in the grave, I would never be able to write that many short stories.
I prostrate myself in awe at your feet.
Heh. A few years back, I tried doing what Ray Bradbury does. The man writers a short story (or the equivalent–a poem, a chapter, etc.) a week, and has for his whole writing career. As far as I know, he still does it. I couldn’t manage his level of output. The best I could do was a story every other week, and I couldn’t maintain that pace. But I did learn that I was capable of producing a lot more than I was before.
I’ve heard of other writers who do the story-a-week thing, and it seems to typically be a very good strategy for getting published.