It’s a new year. 2020. Already 12 days have passed. I’m hoping to attack new projects this year and finish up a few old ones and put them out into the world. For years I used daily writing and project tracking sheet to keep myself focused. I wrote about my struggles to keep up with my daily routine back in August 2019.
The good news is that towards the end of the year, I seemed to get some motivation back. I also went back to my spreadsheet again and I'm using it again in the new year. I’m offering it on my website to anybody who wants it at: http://www.tsrichardson.com/2020/01/12/2020-writing-and-project-tracking/
The spreadsheet has two tabs. The first is tracking daily word counts that are added into monthly and yearly totals. I also have categories for monthly editing, submissions, agent queries, promotional acts, and novel and short story reading. The writing goals are set for 250 words a day, but the users can change that goal along with any other category. Also feel free to add your own categories.
The second tab is for tracking projects. This is especially helpful if you are working on several projects at the same time. On the spreadsheet, you name each project, identify the type of story, dates it started and ended, the word count, percentage complete, any relevant notes, where the project was sent, whether it has been accepted or published, if rejected were there any notes, and finally, were there any payments. Something that I do with the projects is to highlight any rows is blue when they are out for submission. If they are rejected the highlights
That's it for now. This something that has helped me with focus and organization in the past and I hope it can help you too. Best of luck in 2020!
Travis Richardson is originally from Oklahoma and lives in Los Angeles with his wife and daughter. He has been a finalist and nominee for the Macavity, Anthony, and Derringer short story awards. He has two novellas and his short story collection, BLOODSHOT AND BRUISED, came out in late 2018. He reviewed Anton Chekhov short stories in the public domain at www.chekhovshorts.com. Find more at www.tsrichardson.com
Good post, Travis! It's always interesting to find out how others do this kind of thing.
ReplyDeleteTravis, I haven't attempted that kind of management tool, but I use others. For large projects, I create org charts or family trees, bios, backgrounds, etc.
ReplyDeleteThe absolutely essential spreadsheet for a short-story writer is a submission tracker. I create a folder for each story and include this tracking file, 'manifest.xls'.
As we grow, we need new aids. You've created yours!