Writer's Resources - Electronic Submission Trackers

For writers who are interested in such things, I use an electronic spreadsheet to track my submissions, which I built in Microsoft Excel 2007.

Tracking submissions is vital to any writer’s success, knowing where your work is/ has been submitted, published, paid, etc. You can track market info, response times, or really anything you find useful in your own endeavors.

I’m including downloadable files via Google Docs links for two versions of Excel submission trackers for anyone who would like assistance in this, to become—at least—a more “organized” writer! ;)

The first version is one that I built (Submission Tracker by Eric J. Guignard.xls) and the second is an easier alternative version created by NEON Magazine (Copy of Sample-Submissions-Tracker by NEON Magazine.xlsx).

For my version, just input the appropriate fields of information in each row (Title, where submitted, date, etc.) and also apply a numeral 1 in the corresponding column, whether the story is something you need to submit, or if’s been submitted and awaiting decision, or if accepted or rejected.

The 1 value in the first 4 columns will color-format the row for ease of viewing, and also is calculated into your submission statistics. When the submission changes (ex. From pending to accepted), just delete the “1” from the column and re-enter in a new column.

The columns can be sorted by market, story title, etc., and the statistics auto-calculate.

Besides my tracking spreadsheet, there are other resources available as well, listed here: http://www.sfwa.org/2010/08/5-resources-on-tracking-submissions/

Use what works best for you!

Hope this helps, and holiday cheers,

Eric J. Guignard

Submission Tracker by Eric J. Guignard.xls = https://drive.google.com/file/d/18fH298_JJTQI50St6dVrrkRjm1ncPiZQ/view

Copy of Sample-Submissions-Tracker by NEON Magazine.xlsx: = https://drive.google.com/open?id=0B-YX0N6LsoZETGNKYnBiNXpnNms

Happy Birthday to Me

Yes, thank you preemptively for the birthday wishes!

I’ve begun receiving messages asking what I’d like for a meaningful birthday gift—Waterford Crystal London Desktop Bar? 14-karat gold cufflinks shaped in Darth Vader’s head? A Virgin Oceanic submarine? Nay, I say to those trifles—It is Amazon reviews I covet most!

It’s a dreadful commentary that  the worth of indie authors is measured by 5-star reviews, but such is the state of current commerce. So here I post my annual gift list: In lieu of all else, please consider posting a brief and honest review on anything I’ve written, as found in the Amazon catalogue here: www.amazon.com/Eric-J.-Guignard/e/B004QJ1YTC 

In addition, if you’d like to follow or join me elsewhere in social media, I’m at: 

Twitter: https://twitter.com/ericjguignard

Goodreads: www.goodreads.com/ericjguignard

Facebook: www.facebook.com/ericjguignard

Midnight cheers, and happy holidays all!

DAY 27 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

Last, and certainly not least, here posted is the final contributor in the T.O.C. for the latest anthology volume that I edited: +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 27 of 27: Garrett Quinn

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”
22. Lucas Pederson presents “We Were Monsters”
23. Ahna Wayne Aposhian presents “Old Hag”
24. Vitor Abdala presents “Instant Messaging”
25. Jackson Kuhl presents “Cartagena Hotel”
26. Garrett Quinn presents “I’ve Finally Found You”
27. Thomas P. Balázs presents “Waiting for Mrs. Hemley”

EXCERPT:

“My husband says I’m always late,” Mrs. Hemley says. “But it’s not true. I’m not always late. Sure, today I got a little behind. The alarm didn’t go off, and I couldn’t find any clean clothes, and I had to stop for gas on my way in, and the pump wasn’t taking my card, and then I got distracted and missed my exit, but I’m not always late.”

I don’t say anything because it’s not my role to judge. This is a “safe space,” as Miles used to say. Besides, it’s less important to establish the so-called truth of the situation than to examine the patterns of narrative Mrs. Hemley constructs and how, like the sun, she directs the movement of those who orbit around her like satellites of her psychic life, her husband and her children, who reflect back to her the stories originating in her own sense of self-worth, collective constructions confirming beliefs lodged in the deepest core of her being, that she is somehow incomplete, less than.

This being the case, I feel compelled to note for the record that, insofar as our sessions are concerned, Mrs. Hemley is, in fact, always late!

— Waiting for Mrs. Hemley by Thomas P. Balázs

ABOUT: Thomas P. Balázs

Thomas P. Balázs is the author of the short story collection, Omicron Ceti III (Aqueous Books, 2012). His fiction has appeared in numerous journals and anthologies including The North American Review, The Southern Humanities Review, and The Robert Olen Butler Prize Anthology. His work has been nominated for the Pushcart Prize, Best New American Voices, and the AWP Intro Journals Project Award. He was awarded the Theodore Christian Hoepfner Award for best short fiction 2010. He teaches creative writing at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga. http://thomasbalazs.com

DAY 26 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 26 of 27: Garrett Quinn

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”
22. Lucas Pederson presents “We Were Monsters”
23. Ahna Wayne Aposhian presents “Old Hag”
24. Vitor Abdala presents “Instant Messaging”
25. Jackson Kuhl presents “Cartagena Hotel”
26. Garrett Quinn presents “I’ve Finally Found You”

EXCERPT:

For a long minute, there was nothing. Then, as if in slow motion, he watched the doorknob twist, jangle, the door bulge in and out. He could hear the deadbolt, the one his father had installed, clacking against the wood. Only the first line of defense, he’d said, smiling. His father’s lips had been tight, his eyes focused, like when he told him about the accident, like he was scared of losing Con, too.

Con tried to swallow, but his throat was dry. He glanced back out his window toward Frankie’s apartment—still black—and thought of the stories he’d seen on the news: Girl, aged fourteen, never returned home from school, or Boy, twelve, taken from bedroom at night. He clenched his fists and tiptoed through the dark living room. The peephole on the door flashed. His stomach turned, and he wanted nothing more than for his father to be sitting at the kitchen table, toying with an old doorknob and a lock pick.

He placed his palms against the door as if feeling for something on the other side and whispered, “Hello?”

He leaned up, peered through the hole, saw nothing but the brown carpet, the wallpaper, peeling like dead skin—everything warped and flattened in the fish-eye glass. But he waited, because he sensed someone there, someone who’d been looking back through. 

— I’ve Finally Found You by Garrett Quinn

ABOUT: Garrett Quinn

Garrett Quinn lives in North Carolina. “I’ve Finally Found You” is his first published horror story.

DAY 25 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 25 of 27: Jackson Kuhl

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”
22. Lucas Pederson presents “We Were Monsters”
23. Ahna Wayne Aposhian presents “Old Hag”
24. Vitor Abdala presents “Instant Messaging”
25. Jackson Kuhl presents “Cartagena Hotel”

EXCERPT:

A newspaper once wrote about a burglar who, after entering a home and making his selections, would rearrange the furnishings to disguise the absences. If there were two candlesticks at opposite ends of the mantle, the robber would seize one and place the other at the center. Dishes left behind on the plate shelf would be evenly spaced to mask a swiped platter. The emptiness formerly occupied by a place setting nabbed from the silver drawer would be filled by the remaining utensils. In this way, the occupants were long to realize the thefts and, when they finally did, could never say for sure when they might have occurred. Had the lonely candlestick leapt to the middle of the mantle yesterday or had it been there for weeks? At what time the disappearances happened was impossible to pinpoint.

It was very much the same when people began to vanish in Ophir. 

— Cartagena Hotel by Jackson Kuhl

ABOUT: Jackson Kuhl

Jackson Kuhl is a writer in Connecticut. His fiction has appeared in Black Static, Dark Tales of Lost Civilizations, New Orleans by Gaslight, and other publications. http://www.jacksonkuhl.com/blog

DAY 24 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 24 of 27: Vitor Abdala

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”
22. Lucas Pederson presents “We Were Monsters”
23. Ahna Wayne Aposhian presents “Old Hag”
24. Vitor Abdala presents “Instant Messaging”

EXCERPT:

No Caller ID

I just want to talk to you -11:24 p.m.

Hey, are you there? -11:36 p.m.

I know you are… -11:39 p.m. 

Celia

Stop it. I don’t know why I can’t block you, but I’m gonna call the police -11:41 p.m. 

No Caller ID

You can try, but I doubt you’ll be able to make your call, any call.

LOL  -11:42 p.m. ... 

— Instant Messaging by Vitor Abdala

ABOUT: Vitor Abdala

Vitor Abdala is the author of the short story collections Tânatos—Contos sobre a Morte e o Oculto (Giostri, 2016) and Macabra Mente (VCA, 2016), both published in Brazil. Born in 1981, Vitor Abdala lives in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, with his wife Deborah and their son, Eduardo. He’s worked as a reporter for the Brazilian public news agency, Agencia Brasil, since 2004. 

DAY 23 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 23 of 27: Ahna Wayne Aposhian

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”
22. Lucas Pederson presents “We Were Monsters”
23. Ahna Wayne Aposhian presents “Old Hag”

EXCERPT:

She comes at night, when the street lamps are golden orbs in the gloom and the sky is the livid color of our insides.

Colossal, leviathan, she comes for me, loping through the streets on legs as tall as mountains. The shadows at her feet are black wolves with searing breath and eyes that eat light, fear made flesh. Hunters, trackers, they advance. They lead her to me. The wolves’ hot saliva drips onto my breasts.

She shrinks down to slink through my window, folding in upon herself a thousand times over. There is the crunch of glass, a creak of floorboards.

She sits on my bed and watches me. Though her face is an empty sucking hole, I know she watches me.

Old Hag, night terror, the pavor nocturnus. Paralysis in a suffocating black shroud. Night terrors are as old as dreams. In Newfoundland you are hag rid: ridden by the hag. In China it is pinyin, a ghost pressing on your body. Turkish folklore describes it as a dark assailant come to crush you in the night.

It wasn’t always like this; I didn’t live with the hag in my head, lying in wait for me at the end of the day… 

— Old Hag by Ahna Wayne Aposhian

ABOUT: Ahna Wayne Aposhian

Ahna Wayne Aposhian’s short fiction has appeared in journals and magazines such as The Cliffhanger, Add Verb, Subtext, and The First Line. A Boston native, she lives in Somerville and works as the print editor for Pangyrus, a Cambridge-based literary magazine. She is currently working on an absurdist hardboiled crime piece. 

DAY 22 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 22 of 27: Raymond Little

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”
22. Lucas Pederson presents “We Were Monsters”

EXCERPT:

She’s outside my window again when I call Werewolf into the room.

He rushes in wearing nothing but his underwear and flailing around a curved skinning knife.

Werewolf notices the room is clear, except for me standing beside the bed, and lowers the knife. He clears his throat. “So . . . how’s it goin’?”

I point at the window. And when he sees her, he drops the knife.

It’s only for a split-second, but long enough for the eyes to transmit to the brain. Long enough to know who, or what, presses its face against the glass staring in at us.

“Jesus,” Werewolf says. “That was . . . ”

“Her,” I say. “I know.”

“What are we gonna do, man? She’s supposed to be dead.”

I sigh heavily and wipe beads of sweat from my forehead with trembling hands. This is worse than I ever feared.

At first I only saw her in glimpses outside. And a lot of the times I’d chalk it up to imagination. Because, like Werewolf said, she was supposed to be dead.

Sometimes the dead don’t stay dead, though.

Especially if they’re not human. 

— We Were Monsters by Lucas Pederson

ABOUT: Lucas Pederson

Lucas Pederson is the author of several short stories found in anthologies like Apex Publications’ The Blackness Within and Bards and Sages Great Tomes Vol.2. He has also written five novels, one of which will be published by Severed Press. He’s currently working on a new young adult horror novel. Lucas lives in a small Iowa town with his family and werewolves (aka, huskies).

DAY 21 OF ANNOUNCING! Table of Contents for: +HORROR LIBRARY+ Volume 6

I’ll be unhurriedly posting all contributors here, one-a-day, to reveal the T.O.C. for this latest anthology volume that I edited for +HORROR LIBRARY+, to be published by Farolight Publishing (Cutting Block Books) in April, 2017.

DAY 21 of 27: Raymond Little

1. JG Faherty presents “The H Train”
2. Edward M. Erdelac presents “Hear The Eagle Scream”
3. Rebecca J. Allred presents “Mother’s Mouth, Full of Dirt”
4. Jay Caselberg presents “The Ride”
5. John M. Floyd presents “The Red-Eye to Boston”
6. Tom Johnstone presents “Oldstone Gardens”
7. Bentley Little presents “The Plumber”
8. Darren O. Godfrey presents “D.U.I.”
9. Carole Johnstone presents “Better You Believe”
10. David Tallerman presents “Casualty of Peace”
11. Kathryn E. McGee presents “The Creek Keepers’ Lodge”
12. Jeffrey Ford presents “Five Pointed Spell”
13. Sean Eads presents “Predestination’s a Bitch”
14. Dean H. Wild presents “The Gaff”
15. Stephanie Bedwell-Grime presents “The Night Truck”
16. C. Michael Cook presents “The Night Crier”
17. Josh Rountree presents “Snowfather”
18. Jayani C. Senanayake presents “Kalu Kumaraya (My Dark Prince)”
19. Marc E. Fitch presents “The Starry Crown”
20. Connor de Bruler presents “Il Mostro”
21. Raymond Little presents “Elsa and I”

EXCERPT:

“Late again, Giles.”

I removed my jacket and loosened my tie. It was a warm morning, and it was going to get a hell of a lot hotter once the big lights came on. “Sorry, Mr. Whale.”

He drew on his cigarette as his eyes studied me through wisps of blue tinted smoke. “I hope you have a good excuse. Anything other than women and drink will gravely disappoint me.”

“Oh, I seem to remember a woman.”

“Good, good. I’d hate to think that you were wasting your evenings.” He checked his watch. “Boris and Elsa are still in make-up. You may as well grab a coffee.”… 

— Elsa and I by Raymond Little

ABOUT: Raymond Little

Raymond Little lives in South London, where he turns his dark and speculative thoughts into fiction. He has had stories published in anthologies on both sides of the Atlantic, and his debut novel will be published in 2017 by Blood Bound Books. Ray’s fascination with the black-and-white Universal movies he watched as a child inspired him to write Elsa and I, and he dedicates this story to the visionaries and artists of that golden age of cinema.

To discover more about Ray and his writing, visit his website at raymondlittle.co.uk.