PenPending

About

PenPending — Submission Tracker for Writers

Stop losing track of where your writing lives.

If you submit poetry, fiction, or nonfiction to literary magazines, you know the pain: dozens of pieces out at different journals, each with different response times, some allowing simultaneous submissions, some not. You're juggling Submittable confirmations, email submissions, and that one magazine with the weird Google Form — and somehow keeping it all straight in your head or a messy spreadsheet.

PenPending is a lightweight side panel that lives right in your browser. Log a submission in 10 seconds, check on your pending pieces while browsing lit mag sites, and never accidentally double-submit again.

WHAT IT DOES

• Log submissions fast — piece title, magazine, submission method, expected response time. Done.
• See everything at a glance — your dashboard groups submissions by piece title, so you can instantly see where each poem or story is currently out.
• Track simultaneous submissions — know exactly how many magazines are reading "that one piece" right now.
• Watch the clock — progress bars show how far into the response window you are. When a magazine is taking longer than expected, the submission turns red.
• Get notified — Chrome notifications alert you when a submission is overdue, so you know when to follow up or move on.
• Update with one click — hover over any submission and mark it Accepted, Rejected, or Withdrawn instantly.
• Know your numbers — stats tab shows your acceptance rate, average wait time, total pieces in flight, and more.

WHY A SIDE PANEL

PenPending opens alongside your browser, not in a tiny popup. Browse Submittable, read a magazine's guidelines, check Chill Subs — and log or update your submissions without leaving the page. It stays open as long as you need it.

YOUR DATA

• Syncs automatically across all your Chrome browsers (no account needed — uses Chrome's built-in sync)
• Export anytime as CSV (for spreadsheets) or JSON (full backup)
• Import backups without losing existing data — smart merge, no duplicates
• No external servers. No sign-ups. Your submission data stays yours.

BUILT FOR WRITERS WHO SUBMIT

Whether you send out 5 poems a month or 50, PenPending replaces the spreadsheet you keep forgetting to update. It was built by a writer who got tired of losing track.

Free. No account required.