by Patricia Kennelly
If you’re like many poets I’ve talked with, it’s not uncommon to have your poems everywhere. My desktop held overflowing notebooks, file folders and piles of random pieces of paper, scribbled with favorite words, lines, and poem starts. My computer’s desktop wasn’t any better. Although I knew most of my work was saved, my lack of organization made finding a particular poem time-consuming.
This wasn’t too much of a problem until I started submitting my body of work. I struggled with getting my work to the right market. I missed good opportunities and important deadlines and created unnecessary stress by entering my poems at the last minute. Finding contests, markets and journals was the easy part; tracking down a poem or trying to read my illegible note about a “must enter” contest became challenging.
Most organizational experts agree that organizing any part of your life will save you time, money and help to eliminate stress. So why do so many poets have resistance to organizing their work? Some poets think that organization is the opposite of creativity and that being too businesslike will stifle their voices. I found the opposite to be true. Working on organization fueled my desire to write poetry and get my poems published.
When I decided to take ownership of my body of work and organize, I naturally approached the submission process in a professional manner. Doing the hard work ahead of time meant I had more time to find and research markets. The result? More published pieces and a clearer picture of where I wanted to go with my poetry.
Whatever system you choose (pen and paper, computer based, online or a combination of all) make sure it’s one that will work for you. And if it doesn’t work, consider trying another. The best organizational systems only function if you’re ready to get organized and if they fit your personality. If any of these tips seem too daunting, consider asking a fellow poet to work with you in exchange for doing the same for them.
If you don’t already have an uncluttered writing space, create one. It’s difficult to work on organization if your space causes additional stress or distraction. These tips might help you become a more organized poet:
At the beginning of every year or starting today, consider purchasing a large spaced desk calendar specifically for poetry. Because I’m sitting at the desk every day it’s easy to jot down poetry contests and submission deadlines I don’t want to miss, especially the “no-entry fee” contests. If it’s on my goal market list, I use different colored highlighters to show when the journal is open to submissions.
Writer Phyllis Kaelin also uses a similar paper-based calendar system but uses colorful sticky notes to chart her progress on a particular project. Her paper calendar system works hand in hand with her computer files. She says, “Within the project folder, I keep a running “notes document” where I put comments, plans, progress, word count etc. When I decide to submit I make a note there too.”
If you don’t already use an online calendar specifically for poetry set one up. If you’re serious about poetry this can be used to track submissions, deadlines and markets but also helps keep you on track with readings, writing groups and poetry events. Popular online calendars include: Google Calendar (www.google.com/calendar), Convenient Calendar (www.convenientcalendar.com), and 30 Boxes (www.30boxes.com). I like using an online calendar that integrates with my smartphone so that I can send reminders to my phone, e-mail and/or virtual desktop.
Even if you have a good memory, once you get in the habit of sending out your poems it’s very easy to lose track of when and where your poems were sent. And there’s nothing more frustrating than finding a good market for a particular poem and not remembering where or if it was sent out.
Poet’s Market includes a basic submission tracker that you can enlarge and copy. Or if you’re feeling creative, you can design your own paper submission tracker using headlines that make sense to you. Another option many poets use is index cards or a simple journal log. Alternatively you can convert Poet’s Market’s submission tracker to a computer spreadsheet program such as Excel. If you’re not comfortable setting up your own tracking spreadsheet on your computer, there are several free submission trackers available online.
The most popular submission trackers include: Duotrope (www.duotrope.com), Luminary Writer’s Database (www.writersdb.com), and Writer’s Market (www.writersmarket.com).
Rooze, an award-winning poet who is currently pursuing her MFA, says about Duotrope, “I like that they have a theme calendar and a deadline calendar. For each journal, they also list the average response time, percentage of submissions accepted, and the last time a response was received. This gives me a better context to know what to expect. Duotrope also specifies additional criteria, such as requirements around simultaneous submissions and previously printed poems.”
The benefits of using a submission tracker far outweigh the time it will take to set one up. If you choose to include comments you can easily recognize when a poem needs a second look. If you use an online submission tracker your timely follow-up can also help other poets who use the database. Knowing that we’re all in this submission process together, helping fellow poets just feels right.
If spreadsheets and submission trackers seem too left-brain, you might consider poet Jessy Randall’s process. She says, “I write, with my hand and a pen, a poem. I mess around with, cross things out, rewrite lines, for a day or two. Then I set it aside for, if possible, at least a month, or even better, three months. Then I take a look at it again. If I think it’s any good, I type it into a giant Word document that contains typed versions of all my poems, with the newest ones at the top. I fiddle around with it some more as I type it. I set it aside again for a while, maybe another month. If I still like it after all that, I submit it to a journal, bundling it together with other poems that somehow go with it. I keep track of where I’ve sent it, and when, in a Word document (to tell the truth, it’s the same giant document). I also try to keep track of the general response time so I know when I should send a query. So I’ll have something like:
“Name of Journal: Poem Title 1, Poem Title 2, Poem Title 3, sent January 2012, should respond in 6 months.”
For the submission process Randall adds that the “submission information is in the top of my Word document, along with a list of the poems that aren’t sent out anywhere at the moment. Then come all the typed poems. At the bottom of this giant document is where I keep track of rejections, in alphabetical order by journal name. If I need to, I can do a word search in the document to see if a particular journal has already seen a particular poem.”
Unfortunately just being organized doesn’t guarantee publication. But if you’re committed to poetry and part of that commitment includes being organized and businesslike, with time and persistence, there’s a very good chance that your work will be accepted.
When you do receive the letter or e-mail that your work is being accepted make sure to follow through. Update your submission tracker as well as your computer and/or paper files. It’s very rewarding to move the poem (physically or virtually) from the publishable folder to the published folder and/or to write where and when your poem will be published. If the poem was a simultaneous submission be professional and notify the other publications that you are withdrawing your work.
Blogger and poet Sonya Fehér of Mama True (www.mamatrue.com) includes a Published Worksheet as part of her organizational system.
“The Published Worksheet includes the following fields:
For poet Jessy Randall, being organized makes poetry more gratifying: “This may sound weird, but I particularly enjoy the housekeeping side of poetry, the keeping-track-of-submissions part. When I open up the file that shows me what’s where, what’s been rejected, what’s forthcoming, I feel a real sense of accomplishment even if I didn’t write anything that day. Because look at all the stuff that’s percolating along without me doing anything!”
That’s the favorite part for me too; once I set my organizational system in place I had more fun with the submission process. I missed fewer deadlines and felt more in control of my poetic career. Whether your body of work consists of five or 50 poems there’s no time like today to start organizing. Taking the time to organize your work goes beyond the practical; it’s a way to honor your time, work, and commitment to craft. It could very well be the inspiration you need to get published.
PATRICIA KENNELLY is a published poet, business owner and editor in Colorado Springs, Colorado. Her poems have most recently appeared in Haibun Today, Messages from the Hidden Lake and The Denver Post. She gently nags about writing daily and creativity at www.writingnag.com.