Ahh, finally, after two hours I have finally caught up on my blogs. I have no idea what I would do without Google Reader. I subscribe to some fifty blogs (I know many of you will shake your head and say, I subscribe to wayyy more than that)! I can't get over how connected I feel to the writers community out there since starting my blog and I am continuously blown away by how many amazing writers there are out there. Blog on fellow writers!
In other news, I officially started writing my first query for Rupert. Yesterday morning, I fired up the computer, bit my nails, and took out my trusty Notebook of Ideas. I flipped to Rupert's section and began taking notes. I started with Nathan Bransford's blog, headed on over to Rachelle Gardner's blog, and scoured their sites for any and all resources they had on writing a query. What I found, is that queries look easy, but really aren't. I wrote a first draft after researching, shut my notebook and haven't opened it again.
Why am I so hesitant to keep working on my query? Mostly because it's not that much fun to write. I would much rather work on my new WIP. Don't worry folks, I wouldn't be a writer if I wasn't prepared for through the not fun stuff too. My big plan is to construct as good a first query as I can in the coming days, possibly post it here, or else send it to my CP's to see what they think.
Lastly, I'm going on vacation and GET TO SEE MY FAMILY!!! Cale and I leave for Phoenix Thursday morning and will meet up with my Mom, Dad, sister, and future brother-in-law. That's right, my sister got engaged!!!!! Chris is pretty awesome and I am super excited for him to officially be family.
We'll be visiting some of our best family friends and my god-father. Want to know how excited I am to see everyone? I'm so excited, I packed three weeks ago. Yup, three weeks ago.
I'm 10,000 words into my new WIP and am looking forward to working on it more when I have spare time this coming week. Rupert is finished and is being critiqued again. (If anyone is looking for a critique partner, I would LOVE to read/edit whatever you have if you are interested in checking out Rupert. It's ended up at about 23k).
Holy crap! I wrote this huge comment for you and then it wouldn't post it. Weird. I'll try again.
ReplyDeleteI feel like the query is the tool of the devil. No joke. It's a tough thing to write--but dang it, we have to do it.
1) first paragraph--the hook and introduction of the MC
2) second para, explain what the MC stands to lose if he/she doesn't accomplish their task.
3) third para, title and word count of the MS and then any writing credentials you may have (if you don't have any, then use those words to build up para 1 and 2.
Try to keep the query around 300 words if at all possible.
Hope that helps. Also, if you'd like me to take a look at your query, I'd be glad to help.
Oh, and not to brag or do anything like that, take a look at my blog under the tabs at the top called: Desert Rice and Got Zombies? I have two queries posted there that have really worked wonders for me. (I have an agent helping submit Desert Rice around--fingers crossed).
Anyway, let me know. Now I'm going to hit POST COMMENT and see what happens. Here goes.
~Angela
Thank you, thank you, Angela- all of those query tips help a lot. I'm definitely going to check out those queries on your site, and I'm probably also going to contact you with mine sometime :) You are too wonderful. Sorry about the comment not working the first time!
ReplyDeleteAngela seems to have it down pretty well. I'm a member of AgentQueryConnect.com where we post our queries for others to critique. You may find it useful at this stage to join and do that, if you're not already a member. But Angela's format is similar to AQC recommendations. Queries are difficult to write, but when you get one that works, I'm sure it's a great accomplishment.
ReplyDeleteHave fun in AZ!!! Just got back from there. Good luck with the query. Yep, it's all about that first sentence hook! Go get em! Less is more!
ReplyDelete