Eclectic Post

First off I'd like to vent a bit about the book distributor for my area. They went belly-up and I haven't seen new books at the local stores for weeks. Weeks without new books! I'm seriously jones'n. This means that despite the fact Monica McCarty's latest hot Highlander book has hit the bestseller list, I haven't gotten a copy yet. Wah.

In happier news, I'm going to a real bookstore next week, and Borders should have a copy. It's on my shopping list along with eight other titles (so far - I may not be done writing the list yet). By this time next week, I should be happily surrounded by new reading material. It's just a shame I have to go out of town to buy books*.

As for writing, a read an interesting post this morning over at Karin Tabke's blog. She had a guest blogger by the name of Charlotte Featherstone, who wrote about staying true to yourself and to your characters. The hero of her recently published book Addicted could be considered unsympathetic (because he's an opium addict), and because of this I have no doubt she had one hell of a time getting it published. But she had to write him that way in order to remain to true to the story. Good reminder to us all, and a very positive note for those of us yet to be published. Gives me a bit of hope that maybe someday someone will want to read Caldera even though Myke's been called unsympathetic. (Which I totally don't see. I love her personality. Not that she's an addict or anything like that. She's just focused, and driven, and she doesn't suffer incompetence lightly - which can come off as bitchy sometimes.)

Another happy note: I got the last edit notes from my beta reader this morning! Yay. Her comments really made my morning. Nothing like hearing she had a tough time reading for edits when the story kept sucking her in and making her forget she was supposed to be beta reading. I'll be working on her suggestions this weekend, in addition to trying to get the synopsis written. With any luck, I'll be ready to start submitting soon. And this time maybe getting an agent.

Wouldn't that be loverly?

What are your thoughts on this fine pre-Spring day? Ever written or read a supposedly unsympathetic character that you just connected with? Any positive news to share?

*Yes, I can buy books online. I just love the bookstore experience too much.

How Much Is Enough... or Too Much?

Writing a query letter is much like walking a tightrope. You have just so much space, and falling to either side of that space can be disastrous. (And part of the problem is you don't know you've fallen until after you're already smushed on the rejection concrete below.)

Yesterday Kristen asked if Blink has any romance, since I didn't hint at it in my last pass at the cover copy. It does. I mentioned it in one of my other drafts, but I eventually elected to delete that information. Why?

As I said above, there's only so much space. You have to make a decision on each story element as to whether it's crucial enough to stick into that space. In the case of the romance angle, I decided it wasn't germane to the crux of the story. It's like the suspense angle, or the betrayal angle, or the mystery. It's there, and it adds conflict for Mary, but the real story is her journey from crawling to fighting.

The urge is there to put in a snippet about the hero. I'd also like to mention the villain, but in the scheme of things, it's enough to use the Union and not mention the man who heads it. If I had the space, I'd talk about the grandfatherly Russell who introduces her to the Order.

I could delve into Mary's search for identity, because as a 'foundling' she doesn't really know her past or her family, and it's key to discovering who she really is as an individual.

See why writing a query blurb is so damn hard? It was actually harder for this book than any other so far. There's a lot woven into those 94K words.

Anyway, I think I hit the right balance. The book is broken into three parts, and each is represented in the three paragraphs - albeit not in any encompassing way. Time will tell if I got it right or it fell off the tightrope into the abyss. I just need to hook them, so they'll want to read more.

Now I have to write the synopsis (something I neglected to do last year for my aborted query pass). There's where I can let it all hang out - in five pages or less.

Heh. Is it any wonder I'm a wee bit loony?

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Hamster Wheel

Write, rewrite, edit... go back to previous draft... Edit, tweak, revise... Start over fresh... Revise, rewrite, edit, tweak...

Aarrgghh!!

Can you tell I'm trying to write the 'cover copy' portion of my new query for Blink? I feel like a friggin' hamster, running in his little wheel. Round and round. Never getting anywhere. I've been at it for two hours this morning already. Every time I think I've almost got the jist of it, I look at it and realize, something not right. It's driving me fruit-bat.

:sets hair on fire and runs down the street screaming:

Ok, not really. But that's what I feel like doing sometimes, ya know?

And it occurred to me this morning that I started this book over two years ago. For some reason I was sure I started this in '07, but no. First file date? August 2006. Yuck. I started it in August, finished the first draft in December, redrafted a couple times and then sat on it for a year. I re-redrafted it, and in January of '08 I sent out a couple queries. No nibbles. Then I got distracted again writing another book, and another book. Editing each of those, querying each of those... More Hamster Wheel activity... And finally, here I am with Blink re-written - yet again. And yet again, I'm rewriting the submission materials. First the query, then the synopsis.

Then submission.

Hamster Wheel. Run little furry guy, run.

Ever see a hamster get running so fast that when he falls, he just rides the wheel all the way around to the bottom again before either falling off or getting a fresh grip? Pretty funny stuff. Unless, of course, you're the hamster.

(Okay, so it's pretty funny even then.)

Of course, as frustrating and irritating as this writing business can sometimes be, I wouldn't trade it for any other job. And for all my occassional whining, I do love this endeavor. I just wish it was easier sometimes. Know what I mean?

Now, if you'll excuse me, I have miles to go on before I sleep (considering it's only quarter after nine and I'm only really running in circles). ;o)

When I get it to a version I don't hate, I'll post it for y'all. Then you can tell me if you think it sucks or not. Maybe I'll make it an anonymous poll. LOL

Good Rejections

*yawn* :blink: :blink:

I feel like Rip Van Winkle this morning. Not that I spent yesterday sleeping or anything, I just feel like I did. In fact, I probably should've, but that's a whole nother story. After the weekend writing marathon, I was just bleh. To combat the blehs, I sat on the couch and watched TV, and I read most of a book. I also played some poker, but that went badly so I'm trying not to think about it.

Now about that oxymoron of a subject...

In the midst of my bleh-defeating day, I received a rejection letter from a partial of RTL I sent back in May. And yay, it found me, since it was sent before I knew I would have to move and therefore the SASE had the old address. On the rejection scale it was a really nice letter. She said she really liked my writing, but... 1) with the economy sucking like it does, she has to be extra super selective, 2) the synopsis didn't wow her, 3) from said synopsis, the bad guys all seemed one-dimensional, and 4) she was concerned the politics of the plot would overwhelm the suspense.

I'm hanging on to the 'really liked my writing' part. I'm also cursing the economy and the people who got us in this mess. As for the synopsis thing, I'm going to have to take a look at it and see where it fell apart, because it obviously wasn't doing its job.

For instance, I really don't think my villains are one-dimensional. Sure, they're all evil (because I don't do diet evil) but each of them has many layers to their personality. Perhaps that's not quite apparent in the first few chapters, and obviously not in the synopsis, but the layers are there.

There's nothing I can do about the politics. They're integral to the plot, but IMO they don't overwhelm the suspense of the book. I purposefully wrote the novel in such a way that the politics are an undercurrent, but not the main thrust of the plot. *shrug* I guess my synopsis didn't tell that tale very well.

So anyway, I'm taking that one as a positive letter. Have to take the positives where you can. I'm also calling another RTL rejection positive (I got this one back in November from a partial sent in September). In that one, the agent said she liked the premise but she thought it was more suited to the SF market, with which she wasn't familiar. *shrug* Miss Snark always said : Query Widely. Since RTL is one of those stories that crosses genre, I was trying everyone who represented any of the three genres it touches.

Anyway, as I approach the end of the year, and the end of another novel, I'm starting to think about the query process again. I'm taking the lessons learned, and working to apply them to the next round.

Oh, and speaking of rounds... Karin Tabke is getting ready to host another First Line Contest. I think I'm entering RTL this year. Here's hoping my first lines make the cut. I could really use some good news this month.

Your turn: Any thoughts on my rejections? I'm trying to stay positive about it, but I don't want to turn into Pollyanna. Have you ever gotten a good rejection, or is the oxymoron just too much?

Synopsis Help

This morning I woke to find Anne Mini had commented on my post about the latest foray in synopsizing (Here I Go Again) and she was wonderful enough to leave a link to her own most recent posts on the topic. If you're in the middle of writing a synopsis, have written one you don't really like, or are even thinking about the subject, I suggest hopping over and reading what she has to say. Every time I have to go through this (and wouldn't you know, it's not like riding a bike - I have relearn the skill every friggin time), I look to her for guidance. Her thoughts on the subject continue to help me, and this newest batch is even better. Here's hoping they can help you, too.

Thanks, Anne.

Hurray!

The full synopsis is done! I reworked and reworded until I got it just right - not too tedious and not a laundry list. The blow-by-blow ended up at 9 pages and around 6300 words. It's a behemoth, but not every agent is going to want the whole damn thing. Now that I've got it, though, I can tailor it to meet whatever each agent requires. Now I just need to move so I can start querying. Yay!

Like I said in another post, don't expect great things of me this week. I have a lot of crap to pack and move, plus a whole other bunch to sort and sell. And as luck would have it, I have a doctor's appointment out of town tomorrow which shoots that day all to hell. (No worries, it's a standard thing - I just don't have a lot of faith in the local docs.) On the upside, I will be hitting the bookstore. Unfortunately, I'm hitting it tomorrow and some really awesome books are hitting the bookstores on Tuesday. :pout: Keep your fingers crossed that some of those books end up on the shelves early. Hey, it's been known to happen.

Another great thing about a day out of town - even if the time would be put to better use at home right now - is that we get to eat lunch at a real restaurant. Sure, it'll be a chain of some sort. Olive Garden, Red Lobster, IHOP... something. Not haute cuisine, but better than the local fare.

So, to wrap this up, what's your favorite chain restaurant? Personally I'm just happy if it's not drive-thru or pizza.

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Since It's Saturday...

...it means time to work on the non-writing part of this writing business - chiefly synopsis time again. After five days of not looking at it, it's easier to see what needs to be reworded and what needs to be snipped, but it's still slow going. An hour of tweaking and I'm only done with the first page. Only nine pages to go. And then when the full synopsis is finished, I have to trim it down to 3-5 pages for those agents, or the severe trim down to one page for the sticklers who will only accept a single page. Fun fun fun.

In other news, the Wolverines came back from a 19 point deficit to beat the Badgers. Hail to the Victors Valiant! God, the tension of those last couple minutes was almost unbearable. Damn, I love football. ;o) Also in football news, a few teams lost that I don't much care for. Yay. (Mind you, I don't have anything against Wisconsin - lovely state that features prominently in Manhunter. I just want Michigan to win.) BTW, Michigan State won, too. And so did Central Michigan and Western Michigan. Other than Eastern's loss, it was a good day for the state all in all.

Can you tell I'm a little homesick?

How are things in your world? Did your team win, or do you not really give a hoot about college football?

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Uhhhhh.... :thud:

That, my friends, is the sound I make when I finish a synopsis. A long groan and then my head hits the desk.

Yessirreebob, the first draft is done. Shoot me now.

Checking In

Hi!

It's been a couple days since I stopped by here, and I just thought I'd take a moment to let y'all know what's been happening.

Let's see... Friday: I think we may have found a house. I'll be finalizing details tomorrow. It's lovely, and it's not too expensive. The only problem is it's furnished. Not huge - most of our furniture is old and worn - but the problem is: What to do with all this crap. Garage sale anyone? Great, but if it doesn't sell, where the hell am I going to put it? *shrug* Distractions, distractions. I also started packing. I've only done the living room and only the books we're definitely keeping, but I've already got a dozen boxes filled. I haven't even started on the store. (BTW, the store is closed until further notice. I can't pack and sell books at the same time.)

Yesterday I proclaimed it would be a weekend where I wouldn't do any packing or think about moving. I needed a day off. The proclaimation was great, but it only half worked. I didn't do any packing, but I can't stop thinking about the damn move. Sleep? Not getting any. I also took the day off writing. Instead, I watched football, played poker and read. Kay Hooper's new book "If There Be Dragons" is pretty good. Not what I was expecting, but still enjoyable. Oh, and MSU beat Notre Dame, so the honor of the state of Michigan is once more intact. Too bad Michigan didn't play, but maybe they needed a week off to get their heads out of their... Ummm... Maybe they needed a week to get their game back together.

Today I sat down and worked. I took the comments I've gotten back on Manhunter so far and plugged in suggestions, fixed typos and generally cleaned up the manuscript. One comment I found helpful was that I used the word 'bitch' too much. I searched the whole document, and switched out about 75% of the instances. (Couldn't remove them all. After all, sometimes 'bitch' just fits.) Thank you very very much, Ladies. :hugs: You guys are awesome. Once I finished up that bit of work, I started back on the synopsis. (Okay, I played poker for a while first, but I did get some synopsizing done.) I'm now about halfway through the story, and 2100 words into the synopsis. I'll finish it all up - hopefully by tonight - and then start with the weed eater-whacking off unnecessary bits. I was hoping to start submitting this by the end of the month, but with the impending move and stuff, I think it might have to be put off until I have a firm physical address again. Unless, of course, I get antsy... then I'll submit to people who take e-queries. My email addy is not changing, and neither is my phone number - so if I get requests for more pages or THE CALL, I won't be out of touch completely.

Well, that's my life in a nutshell. How's things on your end?

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Cornucopia of Musings

Not sleeping really does wonders for working. Lemme tell ya. I didn't expect to work tonight. Hell, I went to bed an hour and a half ago. But after laying there for over thirty minutes, I figured I was doing more harm than good. Tossing and turning doesn't help me get to sleep, and I'm sure it didn't help my husband to get to sleep either. So I said screw it, and got up. Fired the old computer alive again, and went to work on my synopsis. I'm up to 1300+ words. yay.

In other news today, I began sorting through boxes to decide which stuff gets moved and what gets thrown out. I filled a big gray Hefty with shredded old manuscript pages, and another bag with any non-essential paperwork with dates older than '07. Three boxes empty that weren't before, and the keepers stuffed into a fourth box that was full before. Another yay there. Good thing I worked for a brief time shredding medical records--the shredder wasn't moving fast enough, so about 500 pages got ripped into nice one inch-ish strips. (Who knew after all these years I still had the hang of it? *shrug*)

Of course, we still don't have a new place to live, but I can't wait forever to get started on this. I'm trying to look on the bright side: This is the perfect time to sort through old crap and toss it. I used to be a horrible packrat, but after all the times I've moved, I've learned to part with stuff. (Except for that bag my mother gave me with all my old report cards and papers she thought were important enough to keep, and old school pictures. I've got the same stuff saved for my daughter, too.)

Today on the news, they interviewed a woman who ignored the evacuation order for Hurricane Ike. Her and her husband spent the night sleeping on boards stretched across ladders, with their pets stuffed in the attic. I guess the thought was that it wouldn't get that bad. Ummm... I knew it would get that bad, and I live in Colorado. The NWS issued a statement saying that sticking around could be fatal. That sounds pretty bad to me. It's like people who ignore tornado sirens and then wonder why their whole family is dead - even though they had a perfectly good basement. (I hope wherever our new house is, it has a basement. Tornados are scary enough without having to hide under the stairs or curl up in the bathtub with a kid and a cat.) Evacuation orders are there for a reason, people. Thankfully, most people got the hell out of Dodge when they heard Ike was coming, and the loss of life was low. I'm sorry anyone had to die in that thing, but it could've been much worse.

Okay, sleep is finally knocking at my frontal lobe. Hopefully I'll still be sleeping when you're reading this, but it's doubtful. School day tomorrow. And more house hunting.

Good night, all.

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Here I Go Again

Here we go synopsizing along the... la la laaaa. I forget the words. Anyway, I'm back to synopsizing again. Weeeeeee.

This morning I re-read Anne Mini's series on writing a synopsis. It fired me up last time. This time? Not so much. I know the drill. I've done it umpteen times now; I can do it again.

So why the hell is it so damn hard?

*shrug* Hard or not, it has to be done. The first agent on my list asks for a synopsis up front. Of course, I could be a wimp and not submit to her yet, but that would be cutting off my nose to spite my face. There is no rational reason to handicap my chances by not doing a synopsis, so here I am. Again.

One of the things Ms. Mini says about writing a synopsis is to not get a 'tude about it. I don't have one. I seriously understand the need, and I'm happy to comply. My problem is, I don't feel like I write them nearly as well as I write the story. My stories flow out of me, and I have to drag a synopsis out.

Another thing she says, and many agree with, is that the synopsis should read like a story. It should not read like a laundry list of events. I get that. I try to write them that way. I really do. And they still come out that way. Turds that they are. So I edit the damn synopses almost as much as I edited the manuscript (maybe more... I know it feels like more).

Anyway, enough bitching. I got a good start out tonight. And this is how I've learned to do it...

First, I sit down on the couch with a notepad. Today I spent most of the day thinking about how to begin. I made a few lame attempts, and finally hit on the wording for the first paragraph. After that I did several more lame attempts at the second paragraph until I was irritated enough to walk my ass over to the computer. I typed in the good stuff, and let my fingers do the walking from there. It's crap, and it needs a boatload of editing, but it's better than sitting and thinking about what I want to say. (Never get writing done just sitting and thinking, I say.) After the first few paragraphs, I opened the manuscript, and checked to see if I was skipping anything. Yep, missed some important points. Added that stuff in, and moved forward.

Right now I have 713 words of synopsis, and I've covered the first six chapters. Not a bad start now that I think about it. Since part of my attack plan for these things is to write down every little thing, there'll be a lot of chopping to get it down to the typical 3-5 pages - depending on which agent wants it. Then there'll be those agents who want the whole damn thing, and the agents who only want a page or two at the most. I'll tailor it to whoever I'm sending it to, of course. (One thing about writing an in-depth synopsis is that you can always tweak it to whatever length it needs to be. If you've only got a two-pager, expanding it to 7-10 pages is so much harder, I think.)

So, the hope is that I will be able to send this out on submission soon. If you're reading this and you're still reading for me, keep going. Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated.

How do you feel about synopsizing? Any tips?

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Gumption is Absent

Ideally summertime is the best time for writing. School's out, the days are longer, it's too hot to do much of anything outside. But this summer was a wash. Looking back over the weeks past, I wonder what the hell happened, and why I didn't get more done.

Somewhere along the way I lost my gumption.

Part of it has to do with the personal crap we've been dealing with. Nothing derails the train of thought like personal crap. Sit down to work on writing, and all I can think about it what's going on in my own life - which means I can't think about what's going on in my characters' lives. Real life is a real distraction sometimes, and frankly, it pisses me off when that happens. But there's nothing to be done about it. This too shall pass.

Part of it can be blamed directly on letting myself off the hook. "Things went bad today so I can take a night off." Wah. "I'm too tired to work today. I'll work tomorrow." Feh. If this was a normal job with a tangible boss (outside my own head) than I would've been fired months ago. Hell, if I had an employee who acted like that, I would fire them myself. Except the employee in this case is myself, and even if I fired me, I'd still be here.

Regardless of the excuses, it all comes down to choices. Outside influences aside, I choose whether I write or whether I lay on the couch wallowing in my own misery, laziness, self-doubt... ("Hey look! I haven't seen this episode of NCIS in months!") ...whatever. Unfortunately, knowing this is true does little to spur my gumption into action.

I only have three chapters of a 26 chapter novel red-inked and all of then to revise on the computer. I have a synopsis to write and a book to start querying. I have a book stuck partway through writing that I need to finish. (And a house that needs to be cleaned, several dozen cookies to make for gift baskets, yardwork to do, school to prepare for... Arrgghh.) Thinking about it all is making the couch and a nice book look very attractive again.

I really need to work today. Forget the Olympics, forget football and baseball, forget the Iris Johansen I started last night. Just work. Damn it.

We'll see if I can find my gumption somewhere along the way, and give it a jumpstart somehow. If not, I'll have the Johansen book finished by lunch, and I'll be able to talk sports with anyone who wants to.

What do you do when your gumption has walked out on you?

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Another One in the Bag

Last night, after a marathon editing session, I finished the edits for Manhunter. It's only weighing in at 77K words, but that'll have to be enough. (Unless my beta readers and crit partner find some spots that need more detail or explanation.) I think it's tight, though, so I'm not sure where anything could be added without jeopardizing the story. But then again, I'm too close to the work to see clearly at this point.

If you write, I'm sure you know how it goes.

Anyway, as always, the offer if open to those of you who would like to beta read for me. If you're interested and have the time, please leave a comment (if you have a clickable email link on your own blog - do not leave your email addy in the comments, please) or email me by using the email link in my blogger profile.

Manhunter (working title only) is a romantic suspense - heavier on the suspense than the romance. The short blurb for it is:

After infidelity drives a trophy wife to take ‘carrying a torch’ one step too far, Agent J.C. Douglas must follow a string of fiery murders across country to catch a killer before the past engulfs them both.

And the one-liner is:

Dwelling on the past can be murder.

I haven't worked on any of the query materials yet, so the longer blurb and synopsis aren't available, but you get the gist.

Now, onward to the next project. The question in my mind is whether to get back to writing Nano, to get back to writing Cut & Dried, or to finally get back to editing AWJ. I've promised myself not to start anything new until I get some of the older projects wrapped up. (Unless, of course, a new idea hits me so hard I have to write it or drive myself nuts thinking about it.)

What are you up to these days?

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Huzzah Huzzah!

Just now I finished the re-edit of Fear Itself! Yay! After however long that took, it's done and it's eleven thousand words shorter.

And I even made myself cry at the end. God that feels good when I can make myself cry with my writing. (Don't worry, they're happy tears.)

Now, the real work begins again... Cover letter, synopsis, printing the packet... Ugh.

But for the moment, I'll revel in the feeling of completion. =oD

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Notes From the Battle Lines

Lesson: Always check and double-check submission guidelines before you hit send.

Lesson: AgentQuery, while awesome, isn't always the most complete source of information.

Too bad I forgot those lessons this morning.

Sure, I only did it with one query letter, but it was enough. AQ had a particular agent listed as accepting only query letters via email. As the agent in question point out in her rejection letter, her agency asks for 10 pgs and a 2-pg synopsis. D'oh!

Now, this is a big huge forehead smacking moment. Almost as bad as when I misspelled an important reference in my initial query letter for this book. (If you're an agent and reading this post, I'm not usually scatterbrained, my brain just scatters every once in a while - usually at the most inopportune times.) But that wasn't the worst of it.

You see, the agent in question somehow must've completely misunderstood** the intent of my book. This person either didn't bother to read past the subject line, or she skimmed the contents, and without the additional information, mistook what the book was about. I know agents don't have a great deal of time to read each query letter, so I don't blame anyone for skimming. The solution to that would've been in the materials, if I had been smart enough to include them. With a misconception like this person must've been laboring under, I would've sent a rejection, too.

What this person said was: "I've read too many novels that are similar and just come across as preachy."

First off, since I researched Amazon looking for similar books, and came up empty on any with this angle, I was stymied about the response. (If you know of any pro-choice speculative fiction set in America after abortion has been made a capital crime, let me know.)

Second, it's hard to be preachy when there's nothing to preach. The other side of the debate usually gets sole use of preachy. I'm just telling a story about one woman trying to make her own choices in a world that wants either her pregnant or dead, the man who falls in love with her, and their fight to make everything right again. Sure, there are ideas woven into the story, but the story is the main thing. There's action, there's romance, there's suspense, and like all my stories, a happy ending* (or if not exuberantly happy, at least positive).

*sigh*

Maybe I'll just resubmit with the appropriate materials and try to remedy the misconceptions. The worst that can happen is she rejects me again.

Your turn to chime in. Do you think any books with deeper ideas are preachy? Can books be both an entertaining read and thought provoking?

*As I've said before, books with a negative, depressing, unresolved or just plain unhappy ending irritate me to no end, so I don't write them.

**Of course, it's entirely possible that she didn't misunderstand, but instead wasn't in-line with the pro-choice philosophy. In which case, it's just as well.

Query Tips and Other Helpful Stuff

Since I haven't secured an agent myself, I'm not really the most qualified person to shell out advice on this topic. I am, however, skilled in surfing the web and finding information that may or may not be helpful to my blog visitors.

The most recent awesome query tips come from Lucienne Diver (of The Knight Agency) in her post: Query Dos and Donts. Some of her suggestions seem fairly obvious, but they're there for a reason - and you don't want to be one of the people who become an example of what NOT to do.

Another interesting discussion on a big query don't (at least for Ms. Faust) is over at BookEnds in her follow-up post: Thank You For Your Time. Apparently this whole issue has drawn a shit-storm for her, but I think what it boils down to is: 1) Research each agent and follow their preferences in addition to their guidelines, 2) Don't obsess over every little word. She doesn't like being thanked for her time (at least not upfront), but she's not going drag you out and shoot you for it either. I get her point: Don't grovel. I also get Janet Reid's point: You can look forward to hearing from someone, but telling them 'soon' puts a level of expectation you don't need in your query letter and one an agent doesn't want to deal with. They'll get to you when they get to you. My experiences with Ms. Reid show that she will get back to you soon, but don't give her the impression you're standing over her shoulder tapping your foot.

Personally, my own query letter is now the best it can be. In October (I really thought it was September but the date on the letter says otherwise), I'll be looking at the four year anniversary of my first query letter (and it's subsequent rejection). I've learned a lot since that unfortunate attempt. Now, in honor of everything I've learned, and the subject of this post, I present to you the first query letter I ever wrote. It sucks... HARD. Let's look at it as a lesson in what NOT to do.

Recently I completed work on my first novel, Spectacle, and am now looking for an agent to represent me. After careful consideration and research, of the dozen or so to whom I am considering sending submissions, yours is the agency that I chose to contact first. I was especially interested in your agency after reading the interview you gave for an article in the book Agents, Editors and You. Once you read the materials I have enclosed, I believe that you will be as interested in representing my work, as I am in having your agency represent me.

Spectacle is a literary novel about fighting for the truth against popular opinion and against deliberate ignorance in a world controlled by misinformation. It is a novel about fighting and winning.

When the human race is told it has just four months to live, only Dr. Michael Montgomery has the knowledge that will save mankind—not from impending doom but from itself. A comet is hurdling towards Earth and the scientific community has issued a death sentence to the world. Dr. Montgomery, however, knows the truth about comets and he knows that the scientific community is wrong, but when he tries to make that truth known he is thwarted at every turn. It seems that Dr. Kingsley Hall has other ideas. If the truth were known, Dr. Hall would lose his chance for prestige, his chance for notoriety, and ultimately, his chance for control. While Dr. Montgomery and his allies work to make the truth public, Dr. Hall and his lackeys work to hide it from the world—as civilization slowly decays around them all.

Mr. Maass, I began writing stories twenty years ago but until recently I had neither the time nor the drive necessary to consider writing as a career. I now have both and I am committed to the achievement of this goal. In addition to Spectacle, I am currently working on my second novel and am in the planning stages for several others.

For your consideration I have embedded a synopsis of this novel as well as the first five pages, per your submission parameters. I am prepared to submit the entirety of my novel (MS Word count: approximately 137,000 words) at your request. If you require any further information, please contact me at your earliest convenience. I look forward to hearing from you.

I was actually pretty proud of this sucker. On it's face there's nothing tragically wrong with it, but that's only if you look at it from outside the industry as a standard business letter. Obviously, the first agent I queried was Donald Maass. (Sorry, Mr. Maass.) Needless to say, I didn't even get a rejection - since Mr. Maass only replies to equeries he's interested in.

Don't worry, folks, I've completely fixed these problems (including the inclination to write 137K word novels). Spectacle is now a much shorter book, and my query letters don't suck. This is a learning process. I hope that by giving you these links, and showing you my own foibles, you can learn to make your own queries that much better. And win an agent of your own.

So, if you have an agent, what advice do you have for querying writers? If you're still searching, like me, what mistakes have you learned from along the way?

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Heart or Wallet?

Okay. I'm still trying to figure out which project to jump into next. (I got over the life-burp from yesterday.) I have several I could be working on right now, which leads me to the subject of today's post.

If you had a choice, would you write the book of your heart or the book of your wallet?

Now, if you're not catching my meaning here, the book of your heart is one you're not sure you could sell, but you love the idea of it. The book of your wallet is, of course, the idea you're pretty sure is going to make you some money. You may love the idea of this book, too, but that's not the point. (I guess you could have a book that fits both your heart and your wallet, but I'm not in that place right now.)

So, what I've got is a couple highly marketable ideas, and one book whose premise is totally off the wall. Eventually, I'm going to write them all, but which one should I do now?

Hmmmmm.....

One thing I decided to do was right a blurb for the heart book. I guess I figured if I could blurb it, it was ready to be written. Umm, yeah. It's not blurbing for me. (This may not mean anything, though. I know some authors who write the blurb or the synopsis first, but my writing synapses don't work that way.) I did spend about an hour, and got a fairly good outline of the beginning, but the rest is dragging its feet.

On the other hand, I already have a hefty chunk and an outline for one of the commercial novels. I have a pretty good idea for the premise of another (although that one keeps shifting between two alternate means of getting from point A to point B). Both of these could sell.

The other book? Not so much.

But it's been kicking around in my skull for a couple of years now, and frankly, it's becoming a bit of a pest in there.

I'm not usually this indecisive. Really. So, I'm asking you. Since I have some free time, and I'm not nailed to a contract or anything yet, which direction do you think I should go? Write one of the commercial novels or stick with the bizarre one that won't leave me alone?

Or should I give writing new words a break and just get some editing done? (Truth be told, I love writing new words and I love editing, I just love new words more. Maybe that'll be another post...)

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Biting the Bullet

After yesterday's grousing, I sat down to write the little bio paragraph. (Everybody deserves a little PAM* session every once in a while.) It's not award-winning prose, but I think it gives a good impression of who I am, while not sounding like I'm handing out buffalo bagels or sleeping pills.

I also think I have a fairly good synopsis - finally. So, ready or not... Here I come. ;o)

Wheeeeeeee!

How are things in your world today?


*Pissing And Moaning

Some Info About Yourself

Or, in other words, a bio. :shudder:

The only thing I hate worse than a synopsis is when agents ask me to put some info about myself in my query letter. Not that I don't like to talk about myself. I'm great. My life just isn't all that pertinent to my books, and aren't we supposed to be putting only pertinent info in our query letters?

Part of it is that I haven't sold a damn thing yet. (Mostly from lack of trying, I like to think.) I have a half dozen shorts that I think are publishable, but other than a handful of lit journals, they aren't really out there. I have four completed (as in through all the editing levels) novels and one novel I've written all the way to THE END that I haven't finished editing yet (because newer, zippier ideas keep pushing it aside). Of the four finished books, I've only really queried for the first two, and frankly, I didn't know what the hell I was doing at the time. I sent out five queries for the third book, and then stopped because the fourth book was demanding my time and effort. Now I'm beginning the query process for #4. (Hence, the four years, five books and nothing published thing - but let's leave all that for another post, eh?) Can you tell I'd rather write than query?

The point here is: What the hell do I put in a paragraph about myself that will make the agent in question think I'm the bee's knees?

Don't get me wrong. When I first jumped into the fray for Spectacle, I talked about myself. And then as I learned about the business, I learned I was saying all the wrong things. Read the net and you'll find instance after instance where the agent doesn't really care when you say you're committed to the process (everyone says it, and not everyone means it). They aren't really interested in the fact that you've spent your life teaching yourself everything you can about anything that interests you. And any writing you did for any corporation you worked for doesn't really count for selling a novel because that isn't fiction.

From what I understand, you can say you spend x-number of hours writing every day, and studying the industry, and perfecting your craft, but so does everyone else, and we come back to the point that not everyone means it. If you say it, are you going to sound like you're peddling another cartload of buffalo bagels - even when it's the truth?

Of course, it helps if you have a platform. But how many homeschooling, ex-salesmen, former boozehound books are gracing the shelves these days? I don't write about my life. I write about other people's lives, and for the same reason I wouldn't read a book about my life (except for the whole brain-damage memoir thing, which is still floating in the back of my head with a dozen other ideas).

Let's face it, folks. Right now, I live in the middle of nowhere, and my life is rather bland. I like it this way because it minimizes distractions and helps me focus better on my work. But it doesn't help sell my books. On paper, I look like a hermit or a hayseed. Looking at me now, you wouldn't see the high-powered sales meetings held in the suites at the top of the Las Vegas Hilton. (Some day, remind me to tell you the story of the green semi-formal suit and how it got me more attention than any sales executive wants.) Listening to me talk about my life here in BFE couldn't possibly show how I inherited my gift of gab from my father or my ability to blend into any situation from my mother. Nothing I could tell in a query letter would show you who I am, and what having me in your stable of talent would do for your agency.

Put me in a book signing, and I'll show you who I am. Get me a gig on CSPAN's BookTV, and you'll see what I can do. (Which reminds me, I've also been on TV before, so it's no biggie. True, it was public television, and I was 17, so if the cameras didn't freak me out then, they won't freak me out now.)

But please don't ask me for a paragraph about myself in a query letter. I'll come off flat, and you'll walk away bored - and then we'll both miss out on a wonderful opportunity. For now, let's forget about the chick behind the writing and concentrate on the writing itself. Trust me, if you like the manuscript, you'll love her.

So the question today is: If you don't have publishing credits or an MFA or a platform, just what do you put in your 'some info' paragraph?

(And before anyone says it, I've thought about using the whole 'brain damaged author' thing, and dismissed it. I'd rather not be defined by what I've overcome, and it's not pertinent to anything but the memoirs I may or may not ever write.)

End of Winter Slap... errr Slump

Or maybe it's the 'end of book slump'. Either way for the past few years it always seems to hit me around about this time. I get to where I don't feel like writing. I don't feel like editing. Hell, I barely feel like reading. (And blogging? Fugetaboutit.)

Right now I've got RTL almost in the can. I'm about this close. (You'll just have to imagine me holding my fingers about a micron apart.) I'm just waiting on my CP to give me her thoughts on the rest of the book and on the synopsis. I even think I've got a pretty nifty query ready to go. But I'm dead in the water.

I've got some great ideas on how to finish my WIP. They're all written down so I don't forget them, and I'm ready to move ahead on it. Except I can't seem to get motivated to do so.

Writers write. Professional writers write every day (or at least most every day - they're not machines). Not writing makes me feel like a hack. But I can't seem to get back into the swing on it lately. How professional is it when this malaise hits me every damn year?

Seriously. What happens if I finally get a contract and deadlines and stuff, only the timeframe encompasses this part of the year? "Ahem, sorry Random House, but February and March are bad months for me. Can you hold production until I get my head out of my ass?" Ya, right.

I think I just need to slap myself around. Maybe all I need a good ol' fashioned kick in the hiney. Trust me. Just thinking about presuming to put off a publisher because I'm not feeling like writing :insert whine here: is nearly enough to send me scrambling for my notes. "You need to write whether you feel like it or not, ya big baby. Now drop and give me 1500 words!" (The voice in my head sounds like a cross between that overzealous Marine ghost in The Frighteners and the barbarians in The Thief and the Cobbler. What can I say?)

Anyway, I don't know if I'm cured this year or not. Sometimes just putting it into words shakes it loose, but I know it'll be back again next year. End of winter seems to do this to me. I guess I just need to remind myself next year to give myself an end of winter slap to cure the end of winter slump.

Tell me: Do you notice a pattern to your writing throughout the year? Other than this slumpy thing, I seem to be very productive from September to December. Do you have more productive and less productive times of year, or am I just weird?