Submission Mission

The past few days, I've been submitting my writing like a mad woman. I now have over forty poems out for consideration. I don't usually have to submit so much at one time but I let my submissions lag. Do you ever let your submission pile shrink considerably?

When I am very busy composing/revising my work or get depressed due to rejection, I don't send out as much. I feel writing itself is far more important than submitting and just push it aside. This, of course, is a bad practice for someone who wants her work in front of an audience.

My submission process, I feel, still takes too long. I have mentioned this before, dear readers but haven't figured out too many solutions.
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Things About Submitting I Know:

1. Submitting online is faster and cheaper than through snail-mail.
2. Not reading guidelines can result in rejections.
3. PLEASE KNOW YOUR MARKET. You don't know how long it took me to get this one.
4. If it doesn't state how many poems/what story length to submit, use industry averages.
5. Never use or attach things to stand out or be cute. Your writing should be enough.
6. Always know when it is OK to query about your manuscript and don't do it before then.
7. Never submit multiple pieces or simultaneous pieces unless it says it's fine.
8. When you query or withdraw, be polite. Rudeness haunts writers at the worst times.
9. Keep all correspondence in a folder, even rejections. This will help you locate contact information on a publication faster and show you which places just aren't working out.
10. Keep a submission log with the names of which pieces you sent when and to where. This prevents you from sending the same pieces to the same places and so on.

**I know, most of these are common sense but you would be surprised what you forget starting out.