The Organized Writer
By Misti Sandefur
Each of us, as writers, has our own way of organization for our writing. With
this article I would like to share my way of organizing for those who may be
looking for a better system. I spent many years organizing my writing and
submissions in various different ways until I came up with this system. This
system is the one that I have chosen to stick with, and the one that I have
found I like best.
First, I bought myself a small filing cabinet for $30.00. I also bought hanging
file folders. I like the hanging file folders best because you can slide them
better than the ones you just sit in there, and they also look neater.
Second, I label each folder as follows:
Book Publishers
Short Story Ideas
Poetry
Novel Ideas
Research Notes
Publisher for Title of My Book
Poetry
Title of Article, Book, Poem, or Short Story (a folder for each)
Magazine Publishers
E-zine Publishers
Poetry Publishers
You may name your folders however you like, with all of the above, or with
more or less.
When I name my folders for each publisher, I also include, in the folders, any
research I have done on that publisher: their mailing address, website address,
e-mail address, and any other contact information, etc., relating to that
publisher. I also staple the pages together to go with the correct publisher and file
them alphabetically in my file cabinet.
Now I will take you into the next step, submissions. For these, I store the
information that I will need on a floppy disk or CD. I usually use Microsoft
Word when doing this, but any program that you use and are most familiar with
will be just fine.
After I save my information, I label the floppy disk or CD so that I know what
disk or CD I have when I need something. After that I file the disk in a small
box for diskettes, and I place the CDs in a CD tower. I also place these in
alphabetical order; this is a much easier way to find what I need when I need
it. Not only do I make a back up disk or CD, I also will print my information on
paper and file it in my filing cabinet as well. This is done in case my diskette
or CD is damaged or lost unexpectedly, and believe me it has happened.
The following information that I store on diskettes or CDs is as follows:
Article Submissions
Book Submissions
Short Story Submissions
Poetry Submissions
Article Replies
Book Replies
Short Story Replies
Poetry Replies
For my submissions of articles, books, short stories, and poetry I make a graph
putting the date of submission, name of the publisher I submitted to, name of
the editor I addressed the query, proposal, etc., to, the type of submission I
sent (proposal, query, etc.), the allowance time for a response that the
publisher has posted in their guidelines, the name of the work I submitted, and
a box to check off when that reply has been sent to me. I also add another box
to check for whether or not it was accepted, and I will check
the correct box from the reply that I receive.
If I do not receive a reply in the time that the guidelines stated I will send
one follow-up letter to the publisher. When sending this follow-up letter, I will
highlight that submission in a yellow font and state the date that I had sent
the follow-up letter. I will allow at least three weeks for the publisher or
editor to send me a response to my follow-up letter, and if I do not receive a
response from it I will send the following letter to them, one last time,
assuming that my submission was not considered:
Dear Mr. or Ms. (their last name):
Since I have not received a response from you regarding my query, proposal,
etc., for (book title, short story title, article title or title of poem) that
was submitted to your office on (date), I am assuming that you are not
considering this material for publication, and I am hereby withdrawing (book
title, short story title, article title or title of poem) from consideration.
Thank you for your time and assistance.
Sincerely,
(Your Name)
By sending the letter above to the publisher or editor it gives me the right to
submit my work to another publisher or editor without it being a simultaneous
submission.
After creating the graph for my submissions, I then go and create another graph
for my replies. This graph will contain response date, publisher's name, title
of my submission, and whether it was accepted or rejected. The categories
for your graph may be listed in the order that you desire, same as for the
submission graph.
I hope that this article was of great help to you, and if you decide to use my
method of organizing, it will help you a great deal to follow the procedure the
same way that I have stated above. Not only does it help to follow the same
procedure, but it will also help to cut down on a messy and unorganized work
area. You will be able to keep track of all your writing, submissions, dates,
times, etc.
Misti Sandefur is a freelance writer and author
currently living in southern Illinois. She has published two books (On the
Net Resource Guide for Writers and Help From Above), and her articles
have appeared in Upbeat Entertainment, Reststop Writers newsletter, and Virtual
Bookworm newsletters.
You can find out more about Mrs. Sandefur at
http://www.mistisandefur.com. Feel welcome to e-mail your feedback,
questions, or anything to her at
msks04@shawneelink.net.
