End of year

As the end of the year approaches, I begin to analyze what publications printed my works in 2010. Course, my husband gets on my case to print it all out for our taxes.

That said, what is your method of record keeping?

Some record keeping programs make the job easy. However, after trying one, I decided my spreadsheet works fine. I set up a spreadsheet with a submission listing - publication, article title, date, email or snail, what was sent (query, book proposal, whole article, etc.), acceptance/rejection, follow-up, editor, address, promised pay, expense and actual pay. Below all that, I list what expenses I accumulate as they happen.

Unfortunately, I'm a book junky. Instead of borrowing all my resource materials, I tend to purchase them from amazon.com or wherever I find them. If the books are out of print and expensive, I borrow them. My shelves are loaded. Many books have sticky notes along the edges. I'm not good at note taking but everything is marked in each book.

With the approach of the New Year, I'm considering what writing goals/resolutions I can make. The first will be better note keeping - footnotes particularly. If anyone questions a statement or fact, I'll have instant access to the source rather than spending time going through sticky notes.

What 2011 goals are you setting?

I think I'm pretty much finished with my website. Check it out. Let me know if you have suggestions.