v0.8-beta SQLite

Welcome to Bestrew, a tool for writers to keep track of what they've written, where they've sent their writings and what they've published. I called it "bestrew" because it's a funny literary word, rarely used, but which means "to spread around."

What does it Do?

The download includes a thorough overview of the information you might want to record about your submissions. In summary, Bestrew is designed to track three things, along with several details about each:

1. What have you created? ("works")
2. Where have you sent your work or where might you send it? ("venues")
3. Which works have you sent to which venues and what happened? ("submissions")

About Bestrew

I made this because, after trying a lot of different submissions tracking methods, none of them were just right for my needs. I'm just a writer looking for tools to help other writers do more powerful things with their text. As a humble HTML/CSS developer, I'm new to GitHub, SQLite and to application/database development in general, so I could use any input at all. I consider this project to be a fun excuse to learn new things.

How to Use Bestrew

This version is a database file for use with SQLite.

1. Install SQLite Software (see the README for more info.).
2. Open the bestrew.sqlite3 database file.
3. Begin entering works, venues and submissions into the appropriate database tables.

v0.6 Base

bestrew

bestrew
verb (literary) to cover or partly cover with scattered objects

Welcome to Bestrew, a tool for writers to keep track of what they've written, where they've sent their writings and what they've published. I called it "bestrew" because it's a funny literary word, rarely used, but which means "to spread around."

This version database tool is designed to be free and to run on multiple platforms, so (at least at the moment) it relies on LibreOffice Base, which is also free to install. It is also compatible with OpenOffice Base. Install one of those two applications and then open the .odb file to begin. Be sure to enable macros.

Currently, the database is implemented using LibreOffice Base, although I'm considering a shift to TiddlyWiki5, since it is more lightweight and portable.

Features

This simple database is designed to help writers track three things, and details about them:

1. What have you written? ("manuscripts")
   • title
   • type
   • status
   • publication date
   • publication venue
   • a copy of the manuscript(s), as submitted
2. Where have you submitted? ("venues")
   • title
   • type
   • contact info.
   • submission guideline details
3. What is the status of those submissions?
   • how long have they been out?
   • which manuscripts have been sent to which venues?
   • (poets) include multiple manuscripts as part of a single submission?

Usage

This database tool is designed to be free and to run on multiple platforms, so (at least at the moment) it relies on LibreOffice Base, which is also free to install. It is also compatible with OpenOffice Base. Install one of those two applications and then open the .odb file to begin. Be sure to enable macros.

License

This database is licensed under the GNU GPL, as was the source it is derived from.

Links

This project is based on several sources.

• Writer's Database by Dmitri Popov, part of The Writer's Tools Extension for OpenOffice.org and LibreOffice
• Uses Split_HSQLDB_Wizard_v3c.odb for Base
• My notes about submission tracking tools for writers, overview of existing methods, feature wish list, etc.

Here are some useful other links:

• a write-up of the database design
• ongoing conversation about the development of this database
• other applications and scripts designed for submission tracking

Changelog

v 0.6 changelog:

• added ability to store local filepaths to describe the file(s) that were submitted

v 0.5 changelog:

• fixed a glitch related to portability to Windows
• created "bestrew" project @ github for hosting and version control

v 0.4 changelog:

• changed sub_file data field. It now only stores filenames rather than the complete binary file. This was done to reduce risk of bloat/instability.
• added buttons to the submissions form. These buttons should help the sub-forms to add new entries for manuscript or venue as needed.
• cosmetic changes, particularly to the submissions form.

v 0.3 changelog:

• additional fields added to 'venues' table
• submissions form adjusted for adding new manuscripts and venues

v0.7 TiddlyWiki

Update: This version of Bestrew is created with Tidlywiki, but I don't plan to maintain this project very much further. It was a fun way to learn about the new TiddlyWiki, and the user community was very supportive, for which I am very grateful, but I decided that a SQLite database was a much more efficient way to build a tool to keep track of the manuscripts being submitted for publication.

I will leave this tiddlywiki 5 project online, so that it can continue to serve as an example to others. When TiddlyWiki 5 leaves the beta stage, I may do one final update here. Thanks, everyone, and I look forward to using Tiddlywiki for other projects!

---

Welcome to Bestrew, a tool for writers to keep track of what they've written, where they've sent their writings and what they've published. I called it "bestrew" because it's a funny literary word, rarely used, but which means "to spread around."

To get started, see http://five.tiddlywiki.com/ for detailed instructions or you can: