SO Excited (Plus Another Rejection)!

Excited because I just bought two novels I'm insanely excited about. These are: ROCK PAPER TIGER by Lisa Brackmann (how could I resist the cover?) and SISTERS RED by Jackson Pearce (again, this cover is so incredible I just HAD to get my hands on it!).

And yep, got another rejection. Number 28. It made me a little sad, I'll admit, but doesn't every rejection? :) I was really, really hoping this agent would say yes, too... But don't we all want every agent to say yes? Even just a partial request? Perhaps, if we're immensely lucky (does this even happen?), a full request?

Ah, well. It's not too bad. I'm having my query critiqued, and I'm revising my first pages just to make sure they're enticing enough, and enthralling enough, and amazing enough, and fantastic enough...

Um, maybe that's a little too much to mash and shove into the first roughly ten pages. But hey, I want to make sure I have the absolute BEST manuscript possible so when (hopefully) an agent gets his or her hands on it, they totally, undeniably ADORE it...and instantly call me up

and offer representation five seconds after receiving said manuscript.

Okay, I can dream. =)

So, yep, that's pretty much it. Two new books. One new rejection. A head filled with thoughts of how to revise, edit, query, blah blah blah... Anyway, if you'd like to purchase ROCK PAPER TIGER and/or SISTERS RED (which you most definitely should; aren't those covers immensely captivating?), I've posted the links to Amazon, Borders, Barnes & Noble, and Books-A-Million below (just because I'm in a helpful mood!):

http://www.amazon.com/

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/

http://www.borders.com/online/store/Home

http://www.booksamillion.com/

Until we meet again, happy writing! (You can see my photography skills are maddeni

ngly amazing in those two pictures. That wooden table really shows my artistic ability.) ;)

Rejection #...

27. :) Up to number 27.

It's not too bad, these rejections. Though I'm sure many are simply form rejections, I have gotten a few that tell me another agent will surely feel differently about my work, or, my absolute favorite rejection I've gotten, that while my story is interesting (that makes me very happy), they just don't think they can successfully represent it. Which is totally fine by me. As long as they're being honest.

So, nothing else new. It's amazingly sunny outside, so I think I may head out and suck up as much Vitamin D as my body will allow before it forces me to gulp down gallons and gallons of water.

Um, other than that, not too much.

Actually, now that I think about it, I'd like to pose this question: Any upcoming book releases you're excited about? Me? Hmmm. Here's a little list.

1. Mockingjay (Hunger Games 3) - Release Date: August 24th, 2010
2. Bran Hambric: The Specter Key (Bran Hambric 2) - Release Date: Fall 2010
3. Paranormalcy - Release Date: August 31st, 2010
4. The DUFF (Designated Ugly Fat Friend) - Release Date: September 7th, 2010

What about YOU?

A Good Feeling

So, let's see... I sent out a query on the eighth of July, I believe (I'm pretty sure it was on the eighth, but my e-mail seems to disagree with me). A query that I truly believe was my best yet. But I didn't just pull it out of my head. I'm not sure I could write a masterful query like that so quickly. I had help, of course. Help from the very agent I sent to. Because thankfully, she posted (on her amazingly helpful blog) the query letter from one of her current clients, and wrote a little below it as to why it worked so well.

So, I used that query to structure my query, and I honestly feel it came out almost perfectly; I'm stressing almost because I know there will probably never be a perfect query letter, and just because I think it's perfect doesn't mean it actually is.

Nonetheless, I simply think my query rocked.

Therefore, I have a really good feeling about where this little agent relationship may go. Then again, I can't get too overzealous about it. It may swing back and whack me in the face. Which, obviously, wouldn't be good.

But yeah, I have a really good feeling about my query, and where it may take me. Just cross your fingers for me. :)

Submissions, Submissions, and More Submissions...

Um, yeah. I think you can guess what I've been doing. :)

Submitting my book to literary agents is definitely a nail-biter kind of thing to do, because honestly, it's very difficult to wait for a response; you really are left with yourself and all your questions, many including: "Did I do everything right?", "Is my query good?", and, perhaps one of the biggest, "Will they like my sample pages?"

Trust me, you're not at all alone when you ask yourself these questions. But just remember that every rejection is a step closer to the YES we all really want to receive. ;)

Now, I'll let you in on how I go about my submissions, besides the typical "e-query" that I'm pretty sure many, many aspiring authors out there utilize.

Don't get me wrong, the e-mail query is definitely simple and quick, but, when I kept receiving more and more rejections, I kept asking myself what else I could do in terms of submissions.

And that, oddly enough, is when I discovered a website: WEbook! :)

I discovered it around Christmas, and, in fact, got an account on Christmas day!

Now, before I post the link, I'll tell you a bit about this website. In short, it's basically a website that allows writers in all stages to post their work, receive feedback, give feedback, submit work, and do many other things. It's home to PageToFame, which is an interesting competition-like tool that allows you to post a first page of whatever it is that you are writing (novels, they prefer) and watch that very first page get rated by others on the site (you can rate other pages as well on a scale of 1 to 5). There are four rounds, and if your first page receives high enough ratings and the site's algorithm predicts it will move on, it ascends to round two! And (this is the good part) once your page passes on to round two, participating literary agents look at your page and rate it! They can also "follow" your page if they'd like.

In addition, as you progress through the rounds, you add more and more pages until you're up to round four (the final round) and your entire manuscript is available for literary agents to check out!

I've used this twice now, and it really is great. :) So, I'd recommend checking it out.

Lastly, before this post gets too long, I'll tell you about WEbook's other amazing tool they have in place that I've been using for my submissions.

It's called AgentInbox.

It's a little difficult to explain, but basically it's a way to reach out to literary agents that have an account on WEbook by submitting a query, sample pages (if they ask for it), a short synopsis, and an author bio. Best part is, you can track which agents have opened your submission, and you're notified immediately when an agent makes his or her decision.

I'd recommend checking both PageToFame and AgentInbox out! (You'll need an account on the website to use these.)

Well, here's the link: http://www.webook.com/

That's it for now!

Queries and Toy Story 3!

Hey guys. :)

So yeah, today I'm going to be discussing the art of writing queries, as well as Toy Story 3 (because I just saw it and I have to blab about how AMAZING it was!).

But, in the homework-before-play fashion, I'll discuss queries first. =]

Ah, queries. Some of us love them. Some of us absolutely despise them. Some of us are indifferent. Me? Well, honestly, it varies from day to day.

So, let's begin. First and foremost, what the heck is a query? Well, a query is...(straight from Google)"...a formal letter sent to magazine editors, literary agents and sometimes publishing houses or companies. Writers write query letters to propose writing ideas."

So, yep. A query letter, in essence, is a short letter you send to pitch your idea.

Typically, it goes like this: introduction, pitch, credentials, conclusion. Now, let's break those down a bit...

Introduction. Who are you? Why are you contacting said agent/editor/publishing house? Make this short and to the point. Equally important, make this personal. Don't be robotic and send twenty identical queries to different agents with the same introduction. They may get a bad taste in their mouth if they read a query introduction that isn't personalized. And obviously, you don't want that. :)

Pitch. Not much to say here. Just sum whatever you're pitching up. And you'll definitely want to squeeze and squash this down into one paragraph. You can do it. =D

Credentials. Pretty self-explanatory. And make sure they're relevant to writing, of course...

Lastly, the conclusion. Formality is key.

So, that's a query letter. Hope it helps. ;)

Now to the good stuff (no offense to queries or anything). :)

Toy Story 3 was without a doubt THE BEST MOVIE OF 2010. And I'm nearly certain nothing will surpass it.

In my opinion, it had everything: TONS of laughs, suspense (yeah, even a Toy Story movie can have suspense), surprises, and heartfelt moments. Definitely, definitely go see it if you've not already. Even if you haven't seen Toy Story or Toy Story 2 (which, obviously, I HIGHLY recommend doing) you should definitely go see it. In 3D even, if you can find a theater (which, just so you know, the 3D was fantastic).

So, that's it for now. Thanks again for following!