Rushing to hit that deadline

My characters came to call so on the morning of the day I left for my holiday I was tapping away on my laptop at some unearthly hour! Everything was coming fast and had to be written. Since returning five days ago not a word has been written. It will happen. I've stopped panicking about it.

Instead I have this morning submitted a selection of twenty poems to mslexia's pamphlet competition. I only considered it last night and the deadline is tomorrow! I had the right amount of poems on a theme, looked at them again, re-edited some and decided in which order they would appear. This morning I did final tweaks, re-ordered the sequence and submitted. The result is announced in November.

There are a few other poetry competitions coming up I may enter but right now I'm just recovering from the stress of formatting page numbers and actually submitting! I find all rather traumatic.

Deadlines will be the death of me!

I have just ordered the Mslexia Writer's Diary. Yesterday I realised that I need to keep better records of work. I do have a notebook where I write what I have sent out, the date it went and to whom and sometimes I write when the winners will be informed (if it's for a comp). I also record rejections and acceptances but it's those deadlines for up-and-coming submissions that get me.  I read them and mentally record them which means I either check back too late and the deadline has passed or I find I have a day or two left and then panic to find something suitable!

Yesterday afternoon I dug out the OU Poets stuff to get my votes in for the Anthology and saw that I actually had until nearly the end of February to do it....BUT the deadline for poetry for the next workbook was 6th January!  So began a hectic search through my files.  I can submit up to three poems but this time I submitted two along with my comments on the last editions poetry.  Thank heavens for email!  Good girl that I am I then sorted out my votes and sent those out and renewed my subscription.

Some years ago my hubby bought me the Mslexia Diary and I loved it so I know I shall enjoy this years one when it arrives as it brims over with information, resources and contacts as well as space to record all those submissions and deadlines.  Maybe I will finally get my writing life a little more organised!

I've put a new list of competitions up here on the side with deadlines!  The list covers poetry, short stories, flash fiction and pamphlets.  Good luck.

Made it!

At the last minute I wacked off an entry to Magma for their poems between 11-80 lines.  I'd been searching for one for the up to 10 lines but the only decent one I had is in the OU Poets Workbook waiting to see if it gets enough votes for the anthology (I have others waiting on the same thing but only one poem by each member can go in).  I decided not to risk this as if it was voted in I'd have the embarrassment of withdrawing it from Magma.  So I had to find a longer poem.  When I'd done all the online stuff I panicked because I'd been too quick about it and not checked how many lines I'd got and for a moment I thought I'd entered the wrong competition!  Checking back I was relieved to find all was well.  I should not do these things when I'm under pressure and I'm also supposed to be cooking an evening meal and the natives are champing at the bit.  Will I learn?  Probably not!

The next step and the tricky subject of organising!

Oh for the sea....again!  Eastbourne

So what does a writer do after such a heady few weeks?  Gets on with trying to repeat the euphoria!

I have been trying to sort out about 12/14 poems to enter into a pamphlet competition.  I've never done this before and felt I needed some help in going about it.  Found a nice guide on Mslexia's website for a competition they ran in June.  I now have some poems (having chosen a theme) but immediately started to query whether they were good enough.  I have looked through some other poems, a few that need editing or completing and have managed to vary the contributions better.  There is still a way to go yet and I have another month until the deadline but I can't leave this until the last moment because there is too much to consider.  As well as that I am sorting through other poems for submission to other competitions/magazines where deadlines are coming up this month and next.  At one point I was going round in circles, panicking about my own work, doubts have crept in but I know all writers have these feelings from time to time, especially in the early stages.

I've also bought myself a box file because while sorting through poems in various notebooks I realised how chaotic my work is and I spend too long trying to find the books and even longer trying to find which book they are in.  At least if the books are in one place that cuts down searching time.  As more work goes out and is published being more organised is a pretty good idea.

Any advice/tips?  How do you work?  Are you as bad as me or have you worked out a good system?

(PS.  Haven't got back to the story writing....no time yet)