Friday, October 10, 2014
Thursday, October 9, 2014
Instincts
A few blog posts ago I discussed this awesome schedule I planned to use. Well, last post I talked about flexibility. Now I'm combining those two posts into one epic finale...
I'm not waiting until December (or whenever I said I'd start querying for "After Alice"). In fact, my first queries are going out Monday, October 13. Yeah, that's in four days.
But you know what? I am so ready.
As a writer, I've learned to always trust my instincts. It's my story after all. Who would know it better than me? Exactly.
So wish me luck! On Monday, I'll be braving the slush pile! While keeping you wonderful readers updated, of course. Let the adventure, begin!
Oh, woops... That's Firefly...
I'm not waiting until December (or whenever I said I'd start querying for "After Alice"). In fact, my first queries are going out Monday, October 13. Yeah, that's in four days.
But you know what? I am so ready.
As a writer, I've learned to always trust my instincts. It's my story after all. Who would know it better than me? Exactly.
So wish me luck! On Monday, I'll be braving the slush pile! While keeping you wonderful readers updated, of course. Let the adventure, begin!
Oh, woops... That's Firefly...
Thursday, October 2, 2014
Touch Your Toes
Picture yourself back in middle school gym class. Remember those physical fitness tests? How long does it take to run a mile? How many push ups can you do?
How flexible are you?
Well, unfortunately the flexibility tests don't end in middle school years. They apply to adult life--figuratively, of course--and writing.
Just yesterday I had work my muscles. As you may know, I've been hard at work writing a query letter for my book. So far I've gone through five versions, and I'm not finished yet. One of my most recent attempts went live as a critique on Evil Editor's blog. The comments were pretty difficult to hear, but important. Which is why I'm doing away with the anonymity EE provides and sharing it with you.
I realized two things from the comments.
One. My query letter was describing a generic Wonderland that no way existed in my book. The query made it like a boring cut out of all the other Wonderland retellings that have passed before. Trust me when I say, my book is not.
Two. My title, no matter how much I loved it, needed to be changed. There are too many titles of "Underland" for it to even have a chance of standing out.
Of course even more flexibility is required in the publishing process, but the two above are just examples.
So, without further to do, let me announce my new title. Courtesy of my newfound flexibility, I present to you "After Alice," a twist on Lewis Carroll's classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."
How flexible are you?
Well, unfortunately the flexibility tests don't end in middle school years. They apply to adult life--figuratively, of course--and writing.
Just yesterday I had work my muscles. As you may know, I've been hard at work writing a query letter for my book. So far I've gone through five versions, and I'm not finished yet. One of my most recent attempts went live as a critique on Evil Editor's blog. The comments were pretty difficult to hear, but important. Which is why I'm doing away with the anonymity EE provides and sharing it with you.
I realized two things from the comments.
One. My query letter was describing a generic Wonderland that no way existed in my book. The query made it like a boring cut out of all the other Wonderland retellings that have passed before. Trust me when I say, my book is not.
Two. My title, no matter how much I loved it, needed to be changed. There are too many titles of "Underland" for it to even have a chance of standing out.
Of course even more flexibility is required in the publishing process, but the two above are just examples.
So, without further to do, let me announce my new title. Courtesy of my newfound flexibility, I present to you "After Alice," a twist on Lewis Carroll's classic "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland."