The Organized Writer

Because organization is just a framework for creativity.


About These Documents

Helpful charts, templates, and worksheets to keep any writer organized from creation through publication! Some are available for purchase, but most are free for anyone who wants to use them. More documents are added periodically, so please check back soon. Requests? Contact me at annie_07@alumni.utexas.net.

About The Author

Hi! My name is Annie Neugebauer; I’m an author, blogger, and poet. You can read more about me here, find my published work here, and browse my blog here.

About Donations

I offer most of these documents for free, but if you’ve found them useful and can give a small amount to support the author, donations are much appreciated! One or two dollars means more than you know.

Donations are accepted through PayPal, which means your transaction will be safe and secure. You can use your existing PayPal account, your bank account, or any major credit card. You fill in the amount you’d like to give; simply type in desired donation in the field labeled “Item Price” and click “Update.” Please note: you do not have to do a separate donation for each document. For example, if you’d like to download 10 documents and give $2 for each, you can make a one-time donation of $20.

About Copyright and Sharing

All documents are © Annie Neugebauer. These documents are intended for personal use only. Copyright applies. Please ask permission for anything other than personal use.

I love to have my resources shared, but website traffic and the occasional donation are all I get out of providing these, so please don’t take my documents and post them on your own website. And rather than emailing the documents themselves to writers you know, please send them the link so they can come download them from me. Thank you all so much for your support!


Writing Income and Expense Tracking Spreadsheet
Filing taxes or keeping a budget for your writing? Track every expense and source of income with ease.


Agent Query Prep-work Chart
Getting ready to query agents? Get your data organized beforehand to save yourself time and heartache.
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Agent Query Submissions Chart
Keep track of what queries you have out to who, when you sent them, who needs to be nudged, and who’s answered already.

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Character Chart Template
Get to know your characters better before you start writing, and then refer back to this chart as you go to keep details straight.

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Editing Symbols Chart
Decipher the mysterious notes on your manuscripts from editors and critique partners as well as learning the shorthand to give your own feedback faster.

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Giant Chart O’ Poems
Submitting poems to markets for publication? Make the submission process easier with this sorting spreadsheet.
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Novel Plotting Worksheets
Have a cool novel idea but don’t know where to start? Pantsing it and got stuck halfway through? Stress no more.

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Novel Scenes Chart
Whether you’re a plotter planning ahead or a panster trying to sort things out for revisions, this chart will help you organize your novel scene-by-scene.

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Poetry Submissions Chart
Don’t lose track of which poems have been sent where; this chart will hold all of the details for you, from date submitted to type of response.

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Potential Agent Interview
Does an agent(s) have your manuscript? Be ready for “The Call” by printing out this interview and keeping it handy.

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Short Story Submissions Chart
If you have more than one short story you’re sending out for publication, you need this chart to keep track of dates, markets, and response times!

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Work Mileage Tracking Chart
If you’re filing taxes, you should be tracking your miles! Keep an easy record by printing this chart and keeping it in your car.
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Writer’s Bio Template
Struggling to write an “about the author” paragraph that doesn’t sound lame? This basic template will get you started.

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Writer’s Resume Template
Need a resume geared toward your writing career? This template will get you started with potential categories, important notes, and helpful hints.

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67 Responses to The Organized Writer

  1. Wonderful to find all these resources here. I found you as guest blogger on Writer Unboxed. Twitter link to you did not work, just saying.

    • Hi Deborah! Thanks for letting me know about the Twitter link. And thank you so much for taking the time to stop by here! I’m glad you’re finding the organizing documents useful. =)

  2. monoyamono says:

    So useful. Thanks.

  3. Abby says:

    Hi Annie! I’m an aspiring young writer, and I think your site is awesome! It’s really helped me a lot, especially with plotting my novels! Thanks!!

  4. Ruchi says:

    Dear Annie, this is the best help I have got in the past three months, that I have started to write. Thanks a ton!
    God Bless!!
    Ruchi

  5. quest4vitality says:

    Thank you for sharing your knowledge and your worksheets. I look forward to putting them to good use.

  6. sonia says:

    Hi Annie, I just stumbled on your site while searching on google and it’s beautiful and well organized, I might borrow an idea or two for mine. I just published my first book, a Children’s photo book using a different name (pen name) because I’d like to publish different genres of books and I’ll like to be taken seriously in each genres but having gone through your site I’m not so sure I’ve made the right decision. what would you advice me to do?

    • Thank you! Honestly, I have no idea what you should do. I’m really not an expert, and I don’t know much about pen names and when to use or not use them. (I don’t even think there’s an agreed-upon stance in the industry, really.) I’m sorry, but I don’t know what to tell you. If you have an agent, editor, or other trusted professional to go to, I would ask them. Good luck!

  7. Richard Houston says:

    Great work, Annie. I’ve published two novels, one an Amazon best seller, which have taken me years to write. Why? Because I don’t plot or outline, but that’s all about to change with the help of your worksheets. Thank you so much. These worksheets condense the volumes of plotting books I’ve read into simple guides that even I can follow.

  8. Bernie Brown says:

    These documents are a find! Thank you for creating and making them available!

  9. Syiro says:

    Thanks for this great tools. its help me alot

  10. Kevin C Nelson says:

    You should post some of your lists on fiverr.com

  11. Brittany Owens says:

    Annie! I just stumbled across your site while searching for resume templates on Pinterest! I told my husband this girl looks just like a girl from high school and it WAS you! Small world! Great website!

  12. Malarie Mitchell says:

    Hi, thank you so much for this template. It is amazing how one can write an entire novel then turn around and have so much trouble with something so short and sweet as a Bio.

  13. Renae Beam says:

    Thank-you so much. This helps out with making my first portfolios for college! Helps me be what I’m not: organized (:

  14. Ghosty-Ghoul says:

    Thank you very much! 😀

  15. Squig says:

    Thank you so much for these! I’m trying to wrangle my disparate ideas into a workable outline, and these will be very useful for me. Kudos!

  16. Thank you for these worksheets! I’ve donated $5 for you

  17. Arietta says:

    Hi, I cant afford to donate but I am sharing the link for your website with The Pagan Writers Community on facebook which has over 59,000 “likes” so i hope you will get some traffic back from that 🙂

  18. Christina Chase says:

    Thank you for your resource. As someone working on her first “serious” attempt writing for getting published, I appreciate all the help I can get!

  19. Cherys says:

    Hi,
    First, thank you for the template. It was a useful guideline. However, I trialled it yesterday, completing a CV and sending it off for a job deadline. When I checked my submission today it was covered in live links to your site, asking for donations. These did not appear on the template as I completed it. I think it will leave a dreadful impression on the prospective employers. I can’t complain – you provided the service. But I am left very embarrassed. I would like to continue to use the template – but before I donate to you, would like reassurance that these adverts will not appear on my professional resume again.

    • Hi Cherys. You’re welcome! There are two links in the footer of the template: one to my website and one to my donate page. You can easily delete those and change the footer to anything you want, including blank. There’s not any way that links could appear later that weren’t there to begin with. My guess is that you didn’t notice the footer before you sent them out and then saw them later. In other words, they aren’t “ads” that can pop up; they’re just text typed into the footer. Does that make sense? If you delete them before you send your resume off, no new ones will appear later. Please shoot me an email if you have any more questions. Thanks so much, and good luck!

  20. Angela Gould says:

    Thank you for your abundance of information. It is easy for me to write an article or pen a poem however, this is my first attempted at a novel. I have a children’s short published through Amazon’s KDP. I have edited your worksheets to suit my needs with you as the author and the copyright symbol in the footer. Respectfully, Angela Donnette Gould

  21. Classicroyal says:

    I am a budding freelancer. I am reading everything I can to understand how to best market myself – especially through social media. Thank you for providing the writer’s bio template. I donated to you in appreciation! You have great resources. I’ve signed up for your newsletter too. I’m also taking a class on how to make $ with your writing. One thing I need is someone to proofread my 696 word scary story I just wrote. I was going to submit it asap since it came so timely! The guidelines say grammar must be impeccable – that scares me! What if there’s the slightest imperfection? Halloween will come and go! This is a great piece – it happened twenty years ago and I just wrote about it! Any ideas on knowing my piece is impeccable before I miss Halloween and the chance to since shivers down some spines?

    • Thanks so much for the donation! I’m glad you’re finding my resources helpful. I don’t do proofreading, but there are plenty of editors out there who do! Or if you don’t want to pay, I’d recommend finding a critique partner who you can swap with. Having a solid CP relationship (or several) is a must, in my book. Good luck!

    • Classicroyal says:

      Will do! I put out a tweet and see who’ll join me as a critique partner!

  22. Susan Shore says:

    This was very helpful and thoughtful. Thank you for taking the time to put these resources out here for fellow writers! God bless.

  23. Louise Quo Vadis says:

    Thank you very much for posting these templates.

  24. Gail says:

    I did the Pantser thing on my first published book but it took me 18 months to write. My best friend, who has published 3 books, has convinced me to try the Plotter technique. I found you Googling for some guidelines. This has been extremely helpful and well-thought-out. Thank you!

  25. Ryleerk101 says:

    Thank you so much for making these! These documents are extremely helpful. 😀

  26. ronda hale says:

    Annie, I am so happy I stumbled across your site. It is so inspiring. Thank you so much for opening up so much support for aspiring writers like myself. I am newly inspired and excited to unfold the story in my mind.

  27. Shakala Bentley says:

    Glad i came across this great site. There is so much insight here as well as resources. Without finding this site I wouldn’t no where to start with my writing journey. Thanks Annie! Awesome job!

  28. Nithya says:

    Thank you Annie, for providing such an awesome materials!

  29. Chelsea N Purdy says:

    I can’t begin to describe just how helpful this is. I thank you miss.

  30. Christina Parissi says:

    Hi Annie! Thank you so much for your writing worksheets. I really appreciate you sharing them for free. I’m just starting out and I am so grateful to have them! I hope to read some of your work soon!

  31. LM says:

    Thanks. Just… thanks. I’m only writing for the third time, my first one was an ABSOLUTE mess my second… well I tried… but it was just as bad… I will use your stuff now on… thanks once again

  32. sonicido says:

    Thank you!

  33. FyreStarre says:

    These resources are awesome! I am going to use quite a few. They were exactly what I was looking for. Thank you, Annie!

  34. Rage says:

    I have been looking for some applicable worksheets forever. With my type of story it is very very hard. With a little tweeking they have helped me out tremendously in just a few short minutes. Thank you.

  35. donnaerno says:

    Thank you for your character chart template and the plotting worksheet. I just retired from teaching high school English and always wanted to write novels. I thought I’d have time to write on my “off hours.” Ha! There’s no such thing when you’re a teacher. I appreciate your site and being a part of the writing world.

  36. Suzy Ince says:

    Hi Annie, I attended your class on using your the Query Pitch to trouble shoot your novel,at the last DFWCon in Dallas. I found it extremely helpful, but I lost the sheet. Is it out here somewhere under a different title?
    Thanks for any help you can give.

  37. I wish these were in PDF format and not .doc. 🙁 I was so excited, too, to use these, for I need something visual and to help organize my thoughts. I LOVE Microsoft Word–I have for a long time as a writer–but ever since it became something you have to pay instead of free… Yeah. :/ Will there ever be a PDF option for these fine free resource downloads?

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