Friends

# of queries read this week: 234
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 1
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: steampunk

450+ queries still to go

It's so much easier in these little updates to talk about what a person should _not_ do in a query -- usually based on examples seen throughout the submissions of the week... Why is that? So in the spirit of expressing things positively...

Do...

....finish (and polish!) your novel before you begin to query
....address the query to a specific agent (e.g. Dear Ms. Jackson)
....include your name, email address, postal address, and phone number in the body of the query
....be professional in the query
....use plain text
....pitch one book (even if it's the beginning of a series)
....include in the query package what the agent's guidelines request (in my case: query letter, first five pages of the novel, synopsis of the novel (as a general estimate, 2-3 pages seems like a reasonable length, and more than 5 starts to feel hefty, imo) -- be aware your mileage will vary here
....proff-read before you hit send ;)
....respect those exceptions that prove the rule
....be patient

(not necessarily an exhaustive list)

I've seen tons and tons of negative things said about the query system and about query-writing. What are the positive aspects of the process?

Shadow Mirror by Richie Tankersley Cusick

Unsettling. There's no better word to describe Miranda Barnes's ability to hear the cries of the dead, feel the wind move her hair when they run by, and—dare she look into a mirror—see the reflection of a ghostly woman behind her. There's only one person to turn to for support: Etienne. As sexy as he is mysterious, Miranda can't help but be drawn to him. He believes her; he wants to help her. But there's a secret in Etienne's past, something Miranda's on the verge of discovering. As paranormal activity escalates, passion grows, and soon Miranda is caught up in both love . . . and tragedy.

"Cusick gives the new-girl-in-town plot the Southern gothic treatment in this charming, atmospheric novel. The mystery is resolved satisfactorily, and the secondary characters are vividly drawn." Romantic Times (4 Stars) on Walk of the Spirits

tonight it was a half carton of chocolate fudge brownie flavoured frozen yogurt. i put up a hell of a fight, though, damn you delicious chocolate chunks, you fuckers have it out for me.

administrative assistant? boo.

some ideas i had while at church tonight:

- blog about great women in christianity and/or christian feminists.
- go into the ministry. to seminary, get an assc. pastor job, get involved and work up.
- brainstorm ways to minister via technology. blogs, google reader, gchat, twitter, youtube, music videos....
-work in women's ministry? lead a bible study on women in ministry and ministry itself?

i like the blog idea best.

administrative assistant? suck it, ag church.

okay lately my favourite meal ever is hot oatmeal with a banana mashed into it and cinnamon on top. add some sugar if that's not sweet enough for ya. fucking perfect quick hot meal, and if you have a wonderful imagination you can kind of trick yourself into thinking that it kind of tastes like really mushy banana bread or cake or something.

Today is the official release day for Bound In Blood, a brand new novel in P.C. Hodgell's series featuring Jamethiel of the Kencyr.

When Jame returned to Knorth hall to help her brother Torisen name all the fallen fighters' death banners stored there, she made the disturbing discovery that those banners splattered with their owners' blood also have trapped their owners' souls. She also found a contract proving her cousin Kindrie to be legitimate, proving that there are three full-blooded Knorth. Three full-blooded Knorth means that the Three-Faced God can be manifested; something that none of the three are likely to want to do, if they have any choice in the matter.

Returning with this unwelcome knowledge to school at Tentir, Jame continued to dodge the attentions of an unwanted admirer, strengthen her link to her feline hunting ounce, work with the rathorn colt Death's-head to insure that it doesn't resume its attempts to kill her, and, of course, kept causing plenty of unintended havoc. She also had to help fight off attacks from hillmen, repel a stampede of yarkcarn (think warthogs the size of mammoths), fight in the Winter War (a mock conflict—or, at least, that's how it was supposed to be), and solve the mystery behind the death of her evil uncle, who somehow is still spectrally manifesting himself in nasty ways. No doubt about it—Jame is back, and with a vengeance, as the popular and critically-praised fantasy adventure series continues.

Also available:

The God Stalker Chronicles -- collecting the first two books, God Stalk and Dark of the Moon into one complete volume.

Seeker's Bane -- Books 3 and 4, Seeker's Mask and To Ride a Rathorn

i think its time to start taking pictures every day again. i miss it so much. and the weather has been warming up, too, so that works. i've been such a lazy mess this winter, fuckkk. wasting so much time sitting on my ass and smoking weed lately.
going to try to get my butt to the gym more
i think i'm going to make myself get a second job soon. cannot deal with being broke as fuck and not working at least 40 hours a week. i need a more solid routine, more hours occupied, more money in my hands. im a great fucking employee, too, really, i'm the best. my old bosses still chit chat with me constantly. when people like me get bored it gets bad, real bad.
sorry im rambling here but im.. well, you know. like every other time i do one of these, stoned as hell and about to pass out.

on the plus side i bought some fruit at china town today and grapefruits always make me happy, and i'm watching barfly so that's kinda cool too ? i havent seen this in a really long time.

via jaylake from the Wheatland Press Blog

**********************

In 2002, the Polyphony anthology series debuted. Conceived as a short fiction venue for stories that would skate gracefully across the boundaries of science fiction, fantasy, magic realism, and literary fiction, it was quickly recognized as the standard bearer for cross genre work. Since then, the series' six volumes have become a vital, unique collection of voices in literature of the fantastic.

Polyphony has been twice nominated for a World Fantasy Award and the stories therein have been featured in several "Year's Best" anthologies, along with garnering accolades from several award judges and committees. Polyphony authors range from multiple-award-winning seasoned writers to the previously unpublished. The series is truly a melodic interweaving of many voices: old and new, speculative and literary, heralded and unknown. Polyphony has not merely crossed literary boundaries, it has reformed and redefined them.

The harsh economic climate threatens to kill this vital series. Wheatland Press is asking for your help.

The authors have graciously made concessions to make Polyphony 7 a reality. They've agreed to a reduced pay rate to see the volume published. Now we need readers.

In order to publish Polyphony 7, Wheatland Press must receive 225 paid pre-orders via the website by March 15, 2010. If the pre-order quantities cannot be met, Polyphony will cease publication. It's that simple. The preorder link is here: http://www.wheatlandpress.com/polyphony/v7.html

If the preorder number is met, then Polyphony 7 will be published on or about July 1, 2010.*

We have heard from many in the SF/F literary community that Polyphony is a vital part of landscape. We agree, but we cannot continue without your support. We hope that you will support our fine authors and their art by becoming part of the Polyphony community and pre-ordering a copy of Polyphony 7.

**********************

Please spread the word!

i was sick on friday so took the day off from work and went to brooks' in my sweats to hang out and watch movies.

we fucked, we watched bad tv, we watched movies, we cuddled, we talked about politics and the education system and healthcare. we ate chinese and soup and drank pbr. he bought me pbr, ginger ale and soup since i was sick. it was sweet. he was nervous when i first arrived. he stumbled over his words and put the wrong bowl in the microwave. he was super duper duper cute. i spent the night. woke up, watched how i met your mother, met his friend ben, ate wings, seduced him into fucking me again. i reversed cowgirled and fist pumped like jersey shore. i licked the salty sweat off of his back. we took a shower together and his body was slippery and sexy. it was pretty great. scrubs, cuddling, showers, nap. woke up, left to get dinner and get ready for the 4loko party.

met me at the 4loko party, drank 4 lokos, took a shot or two, talked with people. we played flipcup, and danced. and DANCED. and DANCED. and sang lady gaga to me and danced. like a fool. sang taylor swift, held me close, dipped me, twirled me, said nice things to me. he said he thinks about me all the time. he made a bunch of 30 rock jokes and it made me laugh.
we danced longer than any other person at the party. we danced to jason derulo, taylor swift. we caught a cab and came to my place, drunk mcdrunkerson,and tried to have drunk mcdrunkerson sex but failed bec he got whiskey dick and honestly i dont even know how much i could feel at that point. we gave each other hickies and giggled and laughed and he asked about his dancing. we laughed more.
we woke up in the morning, hung the fuck over, and laughed about the night before and how we had no idea how we got so naked and laughed about our hickies. we reminisced about how fun it was. britney called about brunch. she picked us up and caeli and kristina came too. he was quiet-more quiet than any time that weekend, but i didnt mind. whatever. he looked at me sometimes and i knew what he was thinking.
we came back to my house and joked about how ridiculous my friends are and then after pleasant conversation about dc roads and life, i dropped him off.

i asked him if he would go to annapolis with me, he said yes and seemed excited.

he talked to me about my eyes. i caught him staring at me and he told me how pretty i was.

he makes me crazy.

sarah

I don't think I'm gonna be keeping up too much with most of LiveJournal anymore. Not much dialogue left, not getting much out of writing in it. Might start fresh w a creative writing only blog. Might check in here and. there, might feel different in a week.

Either way, peace out I suppose.

# of queries read this week: 188
# of partials/manuscripts requested: 2
genre of partials/manuscripts requested: fantasy, YA-fantasy


Oldest query currently in queue: 2/19/2010. I have sent replies to all queries received prior to this date. If you sent a query but did not receive a reply, either the query didn't reach me, or my reply was caught in your spam filter and/or eaten by the grue.

Still a little over 500 queries to go.

Still not opening unsolicited attachments (still not king).

Oddly if a query about a type of book I explicitly do not represent garners a reply indicating same (and I know a *lot* of agents who just delete without replying when this happens to them), re-sending that query a few weeks later when there has been no announcement indicating a new agenda to acquire said genre, will not change the result. All this does for me is to slow me down in getting to read the queries that do actually fall into categories that I'm interested in representing. What it indicates to me about the author is they don't care. Not about the other authors submitting. And, not about doing even the barest amount of research.

And speaking of research, an odd thing I've been noticing lately is when I get a query from someone that I think should have the instincts and skills to do it (e.g. they are an investigative journalist, they have many graduate degrees and prominently list their Ph.D.), but they very obviously have not done any. I saw somewhere recently a comment where a person said it had never occurred to them to google search the agent they were interested in sending a submission to.

I'm sure this is wasted on those who read agent blogs. They're out there doing the research, following the guidelines, and giving it 110%. I appreciate that every time I see it in a query. Thank you to those who do that.

• 18:43 @MagicalEmi The thing about your boss is pretty freaking exciting. #
• 18:45 @heneree That's odd I really like their new ATM. I was forever adding up numbers 4 the checks Im depositing b4. never had trouble w/ new 1s #

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start to wake up and the cat with thumbs jumps on me, excited. i'm too lazy to move so i just lay on top of duvets and feathers and random articles of clothing that are stashed in my bed because i haven't put them anywhere else yet. milla kneads into my stomach and purrs quite loudly. when we finally stand up i am cruely reminded that just last week she's shredded one of my duvets so badly that feathers cling to my hair and pjs and fly all over the place. oh, right. good morning, time to smoke a bowl and drink a shitload of coffee.

Congratulations to Anne Bishop for Shalador's Lady at #16 on the New York Times hardcover list and to Jim Butcher with Turn Coat taking #12 on the paperback bestseller list!