Keeping Good Records of Your Writing: Why It Matters & How to Keep Them

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Keeping good records of your writing is a very important.

At first, it might not seem like it. You've written one story, and sent it to one contest. You know the story's title. You know exactly where you sent it, and when. You know when you should hear who won the contest. You have all the details memorized.

But what happens when that one story turns into two, three, four, or five?

Or when you start winning contests or selling your writing? Then you have to remember what rights you signed away. You might want to know how much you got payed, if anything.

Eventually, this will become too much to keep track of in your mind.

That's where good record keeping comes in handy. I started doing this right out of the gate, and I have an okay system going for me now. I record these key things:

1. Where I submitted my work to.

2. The date I submitted it.

3. The title of the work.

4. What kind of work was it? Short story, poem, or something else?

5. If my work was accepted, did I sign away any rights to it?

6. If my work was accepted, what was my payment (if any)? This can include things like complimentary copies of the book or magazine that your work appeared in, as well as actual money.

I've dreamed about designing fancy sheets to keep track of everything, but a simple Pages document works quite well. Type this into your document:

Submitted To:

Submitted What: 

Submission Type:

Submitted When:

Results:

Say I submitted an entry to the fictional Wagade-boo Poetry Competition, that it was a poem called Boop Bop Bang, and that it was free verse. I submitted it on September 2, 2024. I would enter all of that information like this:

Submitted To: Wagade-boo Poetry Competition

Submitted What: Boop Bop Bang

Submission Type: free verse poem

Submitted When: September 2, 2024

Results:

Suppose the judging committee had told me I would be sure to hear back by November 2, 2024. To easily keep track of that, I would put it here:

Submitted To: Wagade-boo Poetry Competition

Submitted What: Boop Bop Bang

Submission Type: free verse poem

Submitted When: September 2, 2024

Results: Will hear back by November 2, 2024.

Now suppose that on November 2, 2024, the Wagade-boo committee sends me an email informing me that my supertastic free verse poem, Boop Bop Bang, just won second place. My prize is a nice new copy of Dr. Seuss' Green Eggs and Ham. They will send it through the mail directly, and they hope that I will enter their contest again next year.

What to do with that information?

Celebrate.

Then I'll update my Results to say this:

Submitted To: Wagade-boo Poetry Competition

Submitted What: Boop Bop Bang

Submission Type: free verse poem

Submitted When: September 2, 2024

Results: Heard back Nov. 2, 2024. Won 2nd place. Prize was a new copy of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

Also under Results I would include the rights (if any) that I signed away to a particular piece.

There you have it. An easy way know just exactly how each submission turned out.

Submitted To: Wagade-boo Poetry Competition

Submitted What: Boop Bop Bang

Submission Type: free verse poem

Submitted When: September 2, 2024

Results: Heard back Nov. 2, 2024. Won 2nd place. Prize was a new copy of Green Eggs and Ham by Dr. Seuss.

However you decide to keep track of these important details, it can save you trouble later. For example: if you are wondering if you already sold specific rights to a story, you can go back and check. If you forget whether or not you heard back about a specific piece yet, you can check. This way, you get the most out of each of your writing projects.

Happy Writing!