You would think that someone who’s been published for about 20 years would have this industry down.

HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA — NO.

Granted, it’s been a while since I sent out short stories on spec. Heck, it’s been a while since I’ve actually WRITTEN stuff. Not shy about talking about THAT.

But here’s the thing…you lose submission muscle memory when you don’t do it for a while (and this has been a seriously HOT MINUTE). I thought I was doing good reviving my spreadsheet, but you know – that’s a tool that requires me to flip between tabs.

Guess what I didn’t do when I was submitting a story this morning? Flip through those tabs. So now I have 2 stories at the same market. Oops.

I also need to pay better attention to my email – I missed a rejection yesterday.

So, now I have a Word doc with a 2 column table – title and market. That I can have my overview. THEN I can put details in the spreadsheet.

HOWEVER… I currently have 6 stories out at markets – 3 new (ish), 3 (super) old that have been polished a bit more.

I have 3 more old stories I can do another pass on and get back out the door while I’m working on new stuff.

This is one rusty, wobbly bike rider, let me tell ya. But I’m getting back on the bike.

Had a great time on the UNT campus on Saturday. It was a smallish but engaged group with some great topics from the fellow panelists. That makes all of this easier to deal with. SoonerCon is up next on the writer front, but am TOTALLY open to other writer things and events. So if you know of any, have books will travel!