A Writer's Notebook, Day Four-Hundred-And-Twenty-Four

Often, the practical concerns of publishing become a preoccupation for me.  I am concerned about the organizational issues of keeping tabs on submissions,  which does not even touch upon my fears about screwing up an actual submission in one of a million minor ways.  I am certain I have blown numerous opportunities by not sending work in the proper format or with the exact subject line in an email.  The thing is, though, the big problem of keeping tabs on work, so that I don't make real mistakes, is a thing that does scare me, and is one thing that has probably slowed my submission of work.

Because of the various learning disabilities which I have, many of the organizational tasks others take for granted are very difficult for me.  Attempting the processes that others use for keeping track of such data is often not a practical possibility for me, either, as it revolves around using spreadsheet type interfaces that I find cryptic to understand.  Processing those forms of visual data is an area of weakness for me, and attempting to enter data in such a program is thus not an easy thing for me.  Of course, that does not excuse me from being responsible keeping track properly.

In the end, I think I am going to need help to develop a way of keeping things organized that will work for me.  It is not an easy thing, but I am fortunate to have some help from friends who have relevant expertise.  I am very hopeful about this, and I think that having a system for keeping work straight will make things a lot simpler for me when I go to submit.  Hopefully, it will provide a process that will facilitate getting a greater number of my poems out to editors, and, in the end, published.  At the very least, it is bound to reduce some of my concerns and anxiety over these issues.

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