Monday, January 10, 2011

organizing manuscripts

Yes, I'm still in my January tidy-up mode. My office is perfectly wonderfully clean on one side (the bed and the desk) but the floor and so on is covered with files and books and knitting and accordion etc... I just keep picking away at it. Today I got the last of the stuff upstairs from my make-shift office in the rec room. So it is pretty good down there. This will take me awhile - I may need shelves of some sort but don't want to buy any so we'll see.

The next big thing for me is to organize my manuscripts so I know where they are, who's reading, and then to track their slooooooow process through the agent/publisher process. Trouble is I truly forget. I think I have The Rock Walker out to a publisher awaiting word but maybe they sent me word already. Just plain not sure. So I'll sort through all my files on the computer and on the floor and try to find out what is happening or not happening as the case may be. Then I want to create a system for tracking that I can see and update - I don't want it on my computer because I want in front of my face - I guess just a sheet etc...

How do you all do it? Do you? How do you keep track?       Hellup!


a net to catch the sky - that's the tool I'm looking for!

13 comments:

Alex Ong said...

I don't yet, but I probably will have to. I need to organize my room office, or continue to. Sigh, have to get that box of clothes to the consignment shop.

Alex
Breakfast Every Hour

Glynis Jolly said...

I put up 4 short shelves for whatever I want to have in plain sight but out of the way. I have 3 plastic chest of drawers that work well because they're see-through. These also give me extra counter space.

Anonymous said...

Jan - I have to admit; I'm pretty ruthless about keeping things, and that's how there's any order at all among my things. I donate/sell/throw-away-if-it-can't-be-used anything that I'm not actively using. Of course, it helps that I don't have a basement.... ;-)

Unknown said...

I don't do much work on paper so my bundles of paper stay low. I have them in nice little folders on my computer. I also have folders in my email as well, that helps me track what's going on with that.
CD

Elspeth Futcher said...

Organized? Me? Are you kidding?

Seriously, most of my stuff stays on the computer for a long time. I find it far easier to edit on screen than on paper. Once it does get printed, it goes into a labeled file and my desk has a nice deep drawer on one side where all the files can sit in a row.

Daisy Hickman said...

A net to catch the sky -- oh, I love that concept, Jane! Hoping your new year is getting going with all good things. If you like art, my guest this week in SunnyRoomStudio is Terill Welch -- First Light is her topic and it will inspire you to new creative heights! Promise! -- Best always, Daisy @ www.daisyhickman.com

Paul Greci said...

When I was querying I used a word document and had an entry for who and when I'd sent something to. Then as responses came in whether they were requests or rejections or some thing in between I added information using red for rejections and green for requests. It worked pretty well for me. Good luck!!

Alex J. Cavanaugh said...

Flow chart? Maybe a wipe-off board?

Jan Morrison said...

Wowza - everyone is as organized as me! I really meant only something to figure out where my documents were in transit - the hard copies here and the ones on my computer I can deal with (although the ones on my computer have weird and weirder titles like 'absolutely last friggin draft' or 'really this time I mean it don't make me come down there draft'. So I like your idea Alex - a wipe off board so it is right in my face or Paul's would work too. As long as it was somewhere I would see on my computer! Back when I was sending a gazillion poems out to journals I had a very clever log book - maybe that would work.
hmmmm...

Hart Johnson said...

I'm a geek who likes a spreadsheet, but I have varied skill at keeping track of queries... I have a file with everyone I've sent TO, but when I give up a round, I stop keeping track when rejections come... I guess were I to get back to my list, I would assume they were non-responses.

I also have things color coded *shifty* Manuscripts I am actually working on are one color, the one that is actually DONE (at least until the editor says otherwise) is PURPLE and the ones on a back burner are another color.

Carol Kilgore said...

I keep a spreadsheet for queries. It's pretty wide, but I've figured out what I can cut if I want to print. I don't do that too often because when I'm querying heavily, it can change a lot over a short period of time. I like the spreadsheet because I can sort in different ways.

Talli Roland said...

Two words: Excel spreadsheet!

I hate Excel, but it's the only way for me to keep track of stuff!

Jane Kennedy Sutton said...

I'm with Talli. I use an Excel worksheet to keep up with everything. You can always print it off if you want it visible.