In the past, long ago in the past, before online submissions, I would have had a stack of submissions ready to be mailed on September 1. I had a plan and a purpose, and I needed publications. I had a vision of a better teaching job or maybe a life of a freelance writer who got grants and speaking engagements and great tax deductions.
My submitting life is complicated now. I am astonished at how expensive submitting fees have gotten to be. I have problems with a $3 fee, and now many of them are $4 or higher. Several stamps, paper, and printer ink cost far less in terms of money. I was one of those people who used to send out poems/stories again and again, on the same paper, so my submission costs were even cheaper.
That said, I do prefer online submissions. I just don't want to pay so much money for such a slim chance of my creative work being accepted.
This year, I have tech issues that I haven't had before. I have a new laptop, and I'm realizing how much submitting work I have done in the past from computers that weren't connected to my cloud accounts. Happily, I'm able to reassemble any work that was stored on a different hard drive--in some ways, Submittable has worked as a different kind of cloud storage.
Because I've moved and shut down a website, I've needed to change the contact information on all of my documents before I send them out. My work situation has changed, so I've needed to change that paragraph on my cover letter/bio statement.
So, I started a new folder--it will be easier that way. I'll know that everything in the folder has been updated, and if I'm away from my process for several months, I won't have to re-examine it all again.
Of course, if I'm away for several months, I'll lose some opportunities. One way that submitting now is different from the days when I folded pages into envelopes: so many journals are open for such a small window of time.
Let me not waste this open window!
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