What's the Deal With Writing?

With so many outlets for writing today, finding the right outlet to display your writing can be rather difficult. And with so many places calling for writing samples and submissions, it can be even harder to determine where you have applied or what work you have sent out. Creative writing outlets make this the most difficult. With so many places requesting that you do not send out simultaneous submissions, but receiving no response months after you sent in your work, how do you determine when it is appropriate to resend your piece? Creating a spreadsheet to keep track of your work is almost necessary.

On my spreadsheet I have the following headings: Organizations Sent to, Works Sent, Address (if sending a paper copy)/e-mail address (if sent electronically), website address (to reference for guidelines and the types of work they accept), Reading Period/Response Time(to recognize when to expect a reply and to mark if my piece is published or not), and Simultaneous Submissions Accepted. Creating this spreadsheet has helped me to determine when I can resubmit my work.

The last two categories in the spreadsheet are most important for this purpose. If I can send simultaneous submissions, then I can send my piece out as much as I want. Also, the spreadsheet helps me to recognize where I need to send letters if my simultaneous submission gets published by someone else. The category that addresses the response time is equally important. If the response time is two months, and six months later I haven't heard anything, I am going to feel free to resubmit my piece to another organization or contact the editor of the literary magazine that has my piece. Either way, I am taking a proactive role in getting my work out there.

Set goals to determine how fast you should fill up your spreadsheet. Don't be afraid to send simultaneous submissions. Keep writing.