Wow, what a crappy week. Not a great week, progress-wise, for my writing/editing. And then there was that horrific earthquake in Haiti. My heart just breaks when I watch the news coverage -- and I cannot stop watching the coverage.
And I seem to be getting sick again (again???). Oh, and I got my first rejections. Yes, that's right. Rejections. I got my second a few minutes ago, this from a Christian agent in Tennessee who, frankly, was probably scared off by my book's very dark themes.
Well, that and the F-bombs (only two in the prologue. Sheesh).
What can you do?
Well, I can continue trying. That's what I can do. I may need to polish my query letter some more. And Staley, my superb book editor, is wrapping up her edits, so I hope to have both the query and the manuscript in top form soon.
And then, well, we'll see. No one said this was going to be easy. In fact, everyone I've talked to who is involved in publishing says it's hard as hell. And it sure isn't for the faint of heart. But I'll keep on keeping on, as the old song said.
On to happier things: It's Family Movie Night!
Yessssss!
The Kid and I picked up two good ones this afternoon from the local Hollywood Video -- The Breakfast Club (keeping with our '80s theme), and Moon, a new sci-fi flick just out on DVD.
I'm conflicted as to which one to watch first. I'm not sure if The Wife will like Moon, although sometimes she surprises me when it comes to quality sci-fi. And, well, there's always the Molly Ringwald factor.
I mean, The Kid is 12 now. He needs some Molly Ringwald in his life. Every boy does.
Even us really old boys.
Have a good Friday/Saturday. I'll be back on Sunday, unless something breaks in the book world.
And I seem to be getting sick again (again???). Oh, and I got my first rejections. Yes, that's right. Rejections. I got my second a few minutes ago, this from a Christian agent in Tennessee who, frankly, was probably scared off by my book's very dark themes.
Well, that and the F-bombs (only two in the prologue. Sheesh).
What can you do?
Well, I can continue trying. That's what I can do. I may need to polish my query letter some more. And Staley, my superb book editor, is wrapping up her edits, so I hope to have both the query and the manuscript in top form soon.
And then, well, we'll see. No one said this was going to be easy. In fact, everyone I've talked to who is involved in publishing says it's hard as hell. And it sure isn't for the faint of heart. But I'll keep on keeping on, as the old song said.
On to happier things: It's Family Movie Night!
Yessssss!
The Kid and I picked up two good ones this afternoon from the local Hollywood Video -- The Breakfast Club (keeping with our '80s theme), and Moon, a new sci-fi flick just out on DVD.
I'm conflicted as to which one to watch first. I'm not sure if The Wife will like Moon, although sometimes she surprises me when it comes to quality sci-fi. And, well, there's always the Molly Ringwald factor.
I mean, The Kid is 12 now. He needs some Molly Ringwald in his life. Every boy does.
Even us really old boys.
Have a good Friday/Saturday. I'll be back on Sunday, unless something breaks in the book world.
The Breakfast Club is one of the best movies ever! Molly is awesome... I get the feeling I'm saying this in a COMPLETELY different way than you're saying it though, lol. I love that she had this screaming red hair that no one else had, and she was adorable -- not your typical leading lady, but a normal girl that all the guys went for. She was my hero.
ReplyDeleteHi Terry,
ReplyDeleteI popped over to the public slushpile and took a look at your letter. Honestly, I think it works as is. There should be enough there to attract attention, but if you want to tighten it, here are my opinions:
I'd cute some of the descriptors from the first paragraph - like "desperate" and "true", and then "inexplicably" from the second paragraph. You've got a longish word count, and you don't want an agent to think that you've cluttered your MS with unnecessary adjectives/adverbs.
If at all possible, I'd also reword those rhetoricals as statements. Not only will it sound less gimmicky that way (and forestall the agent "anti-rhetorical question) reflex), but I think that you'll have better tension.
It also seems like we're only getting part of the story here. Bad things happen to doubting Michael, but the one time you feature the kid in the query, he does something good. If something happens later to make Michael suspect something more sinister, you might want to mention it.
"Joe-sin" is right. It's "Josina" with the "a" taken off (a by-product of wanting my name to sound more gender neutral for screenwriting) ;-P
ReplyDelete