So, I am officially submissive.  Danielle Chiotti, agent at Upstart Crow Literary, has my latest version of a query letter and the first twenty pages of my middle-grade novel.  I really hope she doesn’t hate it.

I’ve submitted the story to a few other agents.  Some were complimentary while rejecting it on the grounds that it “just isn’t for me.”  One or two rejected it with the standard form letter or, rather, 8 x 2 inch slip of paper.  One guy scrawled something illegible across my letter and sent it back to me.  I’m holding on to the compliments from those that took the time to be so kind and to the stories of successful authors who received dozens of rejections before they found someone who believed in them.

Here’s my problem with query letters: I hate the whole slimy feeling, plastic premise of them.  “Dear Ms. Agent Agent, You and I became best of friends at the XYZ Conference… My book is wonderful…  I’m the goddess of writing… My fabulous first chapter is imbedded and primed to blow your mind…  I have all these wonderful credits to my name, and I belong to a super-serious writing association where I serve as the assistant to the assistant secretary…  blah, blah, blah…”  

What would I really like to write?  “Dear  Agent, You have no idea who I am, but I found you on the net, and it appears that you might like the kind of writing that I do.  I’m published, but not in fiction.  I want an unpretentious, honest working relationship.  This is the story of _____.  If you think the pages I’ve included have no potential, please be honest and say so.  If you like them but they are not for you, please have the courtesy to refer me to an agent who might be able to do something with them …”

Seriously, when I read the sample query letters on the web, I wonder why anyone would want to read them all day long.  I can see where an agent might want to know your commitment to a career in writing, but on the other hand – do they really care that you lunch with other writers or that they shared a five minute, contrived interview/pitch with you at a conference where they were overwhelmed with a hundred and fifty JK Rowling wanna-be writers and you were  trying to remember the details of a story you finished eighteen months before?  I’m just sayin’…

Now I know that some agent is going to write to me and tell me that it would be impossible for them to refer a writer to another agent because that would take too much time and that it isn’t his or her job to find an agent for a writer.  But I would submit (There’s that word again!) that it would save agents everywhere a lot of time if they weren’t reading shot-in-the-dark query letters all day.  Referrals help the right people find each other, and that saves every one time.

Yes, despite my hatred of query letters, I will keep submitting this story and giving you the updates on how I’m doing.  In the mean time, I have a new marketing client to keep me busy.  (Yay!)  And I’ll keep writing, and you should write as well.  (Even you, Gale.  I think you might have a great story lurking somewhere in your mind.)

Have a great week!

All the best,

Mary

Breakfast paid forward

This morning’s breakfast was paid for by the kindness of a stranger.  DH, DS and I were at breakfast this morning when a complete stranger stopped at our table and offered us a coupon for a free breakfast at the restaurant we were at.  They couldn’t use it and wouldn’t be back before it expired.  What a nice thing!

Do you pay forward a good deed?  Not necessarily a coupon for breakfast, but a word of advice to a new, struggling writer?  An offer to critique their work or mentor the beginning of their career?  Do you volunteer to be an officer in your local writing group?  Take minutes or find a speaker for a future meeting?

You don’t need to be obligated by someone doing you a favor to pay it forward to someone else.  Take a moment of your most precious commodity – time – and make a difference in another’s life.

Take care,

Cheryl

We all have moments of self-doubt when we think our words are crap, our story is a tragedy and what were we thinking? Joanna Penn of www.thecreativepenn.com offers some words of wisdom for those moments.
I’d like to add two caveats:
1) find a writing partner or critique group. Make sure it’s not someone who sugarcoats the truth.
2) the first draft is a vomit draft. Throw up all over the page and clean it up later. Give yourself permission to be bad. Lock away your inner editor and write like mad.

Take care,
Cheryl