as i approached my wits’ end, searching for submission opportunities on the godforsaken website that is submittable, i noticed a… suspicious lack of organization within my writing repertoire. i had three folders, each with separate subsections and an ungodly amount of categories – somehow i ended up with two poetry folders?
so, in the middle of class, i organized my entire laptop. and boy, do i wish i would have done it sooner. for the upcoming juniors reading this post, i’m telling you now: find your organization. if you need a template, that’s why i’m here.
for starters, i took note of all of my pieces and gathered them into an excel spreadsheet. the table should look something like this:
| title | type | content | style | line/word count | submitted to | accepted by |
title: obviously this is the title of your piece. i like to keep this horizontally organized, keeping my poetry at the top and long-form writing toward the bottom.
type: this notes any special formatting, such as if a poem is a sonnet, sestina, haiku, etc.
content: you will produce works that need content warnings or notes. if something has foul language, insinuations, or otherwise alarming material of any sort, this is where to note it. additionally, you can keep themes in this section as well (grief, love, etc.)
style: this is totally optional, but i go back and forth between works that are appropriate to keep lowercase and those that require proper capitalization, so i usually note that here.
line/word count: self-explanatory.
submitted to: note any time you submit something. many journals will ask you not to submit a piece that is being considered elsewhere, but others may want you to note that on the cover letter.
accepted by: these are pieces that have been accepted and can no longer be submitted anywhere, but they need to be kept on the sheet in order to mark it somewhere later. this is very useful when compiling a literary resume.
next, i keep all of my work in folders on my desktop. this is completely optional, especially if you’re using google docs, but i find it makes finding my work so much easier. i have a few different ones.
pending: pieces that i’m currently writing, working on, or editing.
posted: everything altogether. included in this are subcategories.
– poetry
– playwriting
– flash fiction
– short stories
– blogs
– exercises for class (a lot of these will fall into an awkward category that can’t really be submitted).
– miscellaneous
when i tell you this system has saved me on more than one occasion, believe me. i’ve submitted to 6 different literary journals within the past two days, each considering a different theme. now, instead of shuffling through every folder on my laptop, i consult my spreadsheet first – skimming over the titles and seeing what’s most appropriate. it also allows me to see which works i’ve neglected and/or paid extra attention to in my submission process, leveling out my likelihood of submitting pieces. i have some that are being considered in 5 places, others that aren’t being considered at all.
many submission opportunities have a line or word count minimum/maximum, so that column is especially helpful for weeding out qualifiers.
overall, i’m extremely disappointed that i didn’t have something like this to guide me through scholastics, and i definitely recommend beginning a healthy organization habit sooner, rather than later. it’ll likely save you more than once.
