Pretty, pretty spreadsheet

[Christa M. Miller]

I have an Excel spreadsheet that I use to track all my agent submissions. It contains more than 100 names so I had to figure out a way to keep track of where and when I submitted. I write the dates, but that's too confusing - so - I color code. Red is for shortlisted agents (the ones I really want offers from). Blue is for ones I've submitted to. Hot pink is for requested materials. Green is for rejections. Black is default (the ones that don't fit into those categories). It's a pretty, pretty list, and I spend too much time admiring it. Procrastination, thy name is organization....

[Daniel Hatadi]

I did something like that once with my novel, having separate sheets for scenes/characters/location. Lots of pretty colours helped me visualise the shape of the novel and I ended up reusing a location and chopping out a couple of characters.

I'm sure I'll be less intense about it for the next novel, as I think it was part of the learning process.

[Christa M. Miller]

Agentquery.com. I ran a search on those agents who take mysteries and/or thrillers/suspense fiction. Those are the ones in black. Then I shortlist those who seem like the best fit of all. Right now there are about 2-3 dozen. We'll see. For now I'm just enjoying the pretty colors. ;)

[Naomi Hirahara]

My goodness, Christa, this is pretty intense. How are you selecting these agents in the first place?