When I began seriously pursuing short-form writing, I tracked nothing: not my word count, not my submissions, not my overall writing.
Once I became serious about putting myself out there, I knew I had to find an organized way to track everything.
Later, after reading a very cool and informative lesson by Chillsubs, I began organizing my writing.
So I wanted to share with you all some tips on tracking/organizing your writing so that you're not driven insane by your sheer amount of work.
Tip 1: Track Your Writing—And I Don't Mean Your Word Count
I have 26 short stories, 3 alternate versions of short stories, 8 poems, and 1 prose poem. I know this because I keep a writing organizer with links to all my pieces, and information on genre, subgenre, and the date I started writing it.
Some people like to track the date they finish a story. I'm never finished. I could revise it at any moment! (Hence the three alternate versions I have of my stories.)
I did not wake up one morning and decide to organize my writing into a Google Docs spreadsheet. I took a free course by The Forever Workshop, in which Chillsubs co-founder Benjamin Davis explains the "Best Method for Organizing Your Writing According to Some Guy (Me)."
Please visit those links, particularly the last link, to learn more. I learned a lot from the lesson. The last link contains a template for the writing organizer I use, which you can see a sample of below:
As you can see, it's color-coordinated, too!
So that's my biggest tip: go to this link and learn from the person I learned from. (Does that count as a pro tip? I hope so.)
Tip 2: Track Your Submissions, Too
I've talked a little bit about using a submission tracker before. I still use The Submission Grinder but I've recently started tracking via Chill Subs.
Both are free! Free is good. Both allow you to search for markets via genre, although Chill Subs has more options in their search tool.
The Submission Grinder, however, has more options for tracking work. For instance, you can mark a work as being rejected with a form letter or with a personal rejection; Chill Subs simply has "Rejected."
Each has pros and cons, and I recommend checking both out to see which works best for you.
These two tips will change your life, or your money back!
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