Organizing More Than Thoughts

I used to think I was a fairly organized person. Oh, my desk at work didn't always look like it, what with file folders and papers heaped all over it from corner to corner, but I was using those file folders, processing those papers, and when I was done with that chore, they would all be put away, and I would start on the next task. My supervisors knew that if they needed some new project done, they just needed to give me the parameters and turn me loose; it would Get Done.

Then I came home and it was time to start sending my short story and novel manuscripts out to try to sell them. Total confusion.

At this time, I have two novels and a dozen shorts ready for a new home. I have a list of places I can send them, but is it a complete list? Probably not. So I keep looking for new places. I also go back every few months to those markets already on my list and check to see if their guidelines have changed. Particularly if that market was closed to submissions the last time I checked. Sometimes, it seems I have too many options, too much information. I have tables with the basic information on the various markets, then a folder with detailed information for each market I'm truly interested in. I have a table with ALL the submissions I've made, then a portion of that same table duplicated on the document for any particular market, so I can see at a glance which stories have already been submitted there. Files and documents and tables—oh, my!

I keep thinking there's got to be a better way, but all the methods used by other authors that have been explained to me seem to be just as complicated. Why is this so hard?

All my efforts have not kept me from the embarrassment of sending a story to the same market a second time. Color me beet red! It doesn't keep me from having the strong desire to throw my hands in the air and give up. Color me frustrated. It does cut into my time for writing. Color me irritated.

Unfortunately, all my efforts to get this process organized can't color me published. Yet.

See ya next week.    Trudy