On the Query Train

I have this fantasy of going to a pitch or sending out a query and getting a request for a full, followed almost immediately by an offer of representation. What author doesn't, right? Unfortunately (or fortunately, depending on your point of view), it rarely happens like that. Especially not for new authors like me. But that doesn't stop the dream!

It's only when that dream, that fantasy, gets in our own way that problems arise. Me, for instance. That dream of getting representation from a single pitch session at a writing conference has made me hesitant to start sending out queries again. I mean, wouldn't it be terrible if I miraculously got an offer of representation  before my pitch session at the conference? What in the world would I say to the poor agent I'm pitching to: "Oh, I'm sorry, but I've already decided to work with someone else?"

Of course, there's no real way I would get a representation offer in two weeks when it takes most agents at least that, if not longer, to get to initial queries. So what's holding me back?! That silly, glowing, golden fantasy in my brain.

So today? Today I send out a query. The first letter I've sent out in months. The first one since I finished the fourth rewrite. Am I nervous? Heck yes. Is it what I need to be doing? Definitely.

Wish me luck!

Word Vomit

Last post today, sorry! I was out all day, running around various parks and meeting new people. But that's not important right now.

What is important is that I've jumped (once again) back on the rewriting horse. I'm about a quarter of the way from finishing this rewrite of Savior, which means I'll be restarting that query brain soon. Hopefully, within the next couple of weeks. I've also officially signed up for the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's conference in a few months, and I'm thrilled. I took the dive this year and signed up to participate in a critique session with an agent. If nothing else, it'll give me more exposure to how agents look at things, which is always good.

And, on the not-writing-but-still-artsy side, I'm auditioning for a local production of Evita on Monday. Excited and nervous at the same time, since it's my first time auditioning for a theatre I've always wanted to act in. With me luck!

Oljiru kovy.

To Re or Not to Re?

Forgive the terrible, terrible pun in the title of this post. But I am of the firm belief (as of now) that every blog ought to have at least one post with a title parodying some great Shakespearean line. All the better if it's Hamlet. In all honesty, I should have written "To Resubmit or not to Resubmit?" But it just doesn't have the same ring to it.

As you may or may not have guessed at this point, I'm considering resubmitting to an agency that rejected Savior several months ago. Over the course of those months, I have rewritten the query letter thrice and reworked the majority of the manuscript itself. Plus, on the agent's blog, she mentioned a little while ago that they're looking for more manuscripts with strong, gay characters. And, to top it off, one of the two agents at the agency will be at the Rocky Mountain Fiction Writer's conference in September accepting pitches.

So what's the problem? I'm not sure if this specific agency accepts resubmissions, or if it's been long enough between queries to try again. I've been agonizing over this for weeks now, and have yet to come to a conclusion. Of course, I still have a few things to tweak in the manuscript before I start sending it out again at all (and all these ideas for new stories I'm getting are not helping), but I'm one of those people who likes to know what all my steps are for a bit before I get there, most of the time.

Has anyone else reading this considered resubmitting to an agent/editor? Did you do it?

Another Slow Week

Not much to say on the writing front this week. Again, packing and finishing up the semester seem to have made my words all dry up. I get restless every time I sit down to work, and it's tough pounding out at least a few paragraphs a day. Oh, well. I'm almost done.

I did get rewrite my query letter, though. That's always fun and exciting.

This week, your bit of fiction is the beginning of an old, old story that I'm reworking. Enjoy.

“Get down!” Ellianna T’fos shouted as she leapt from her hiding spot. She easily cleared the man’s head, landing heavily in the mulch. Dead leaves and debris scattered from the place her boots touched down. Without a moment of thought, she drew her sword to parry the  attack aimed at her head. Steel sang against steel. She moved one foot back a step to brace her against the force of the blow. Recovering quickly, she forced her attacker’s blade back at him and followed with a quick thrust at his gut. 

He barely managed to knock her blade aside in time. 

“This really isn’t—” The man behind her, who had been the target of the attack, spoke in a soft, pleading voice. Until the attacker’s dagger landed in the tree behind him, inches from his hooded head. 

“Shut up,” Ellianna hissed, ducking a blow aimed at her head. She rolled into her opponent’s guard and drove her blade up, into his stomach. If he was what she thought he was, her strike would do nothing but slow him down. Worth a shot, at least. True to her instinct, the man simply staggered back, cursing. She felt a sharp tug at her chest, the center of the magic that kept her alive, as the wound in his stomach knitted itself together again. So he was an Andra, after all. Damn it. That would make things much more difficult.

Metamorphosing Queries

Ever have one of those days when you just have to wonder where your life is going? I'm there. In a good way, though. I'm graduating in a month; I have a full manuscript that really only needs some minor editing to be finished again; I have several short stories I can fix up and try to submit to various magazines and anthologies; I'm heading back to Colorado soon. And, yet, I still have no idea if/where/when I can get a job. Oh, well. I shan't mope about that here.

This space is for writing and arts and creative things. Like Metamorphoses. I don't think I mentioned it here previously, but I'm currently in the play, as "Eurydice and others." For those unfamiliar with it, Metamorphoses is a one-act play written by Mary Zimmerman, based on the writings of Ovid. In other words, it's all about Greek myths. The big brouhaha of the show is that it was originally produced with a pool of water on stage, so our director decided he wanted to do the same thing. It turned out all right, but it's been a bit of a hassle and I won't say I'm not happy to see the last of it. Overall, though, it was a wonderful experience. If you get the chance to see a version of it and are at all interested in mythology or different types of theatre, please do so.

And now onto the writerly update of the week: WriteOnCon is my new favorite website ever. Q&A sessions with agents, query letter critiques, an online conference in the fall; what more could you want? This month, there are three literary agents going through query letters and saying whether they would request pages or not, and their reasoning. Not only is it absolutely wonderful of them to give their time like that, but it is also much more useful for us, the authors, than a form rejection. At least, I think so. The thing that bothers me about form rejection letters is not knowing why the agent didn't want my work. I understand completely that they're very busy people and they don't have time to personally comment on everything, but it's also a bit confusing not to know whether it was a poorly constructed query letter, an unappealing premise, or simply the wrong time to query. So having someone comment on my letter will at least confirm whether or not I need to rework my pitch, in addition to fixing up bits of the manuscript. I'm looking forward to it.

Onward! To the senior project presentation and graduation!

Oljiru kovy.

Whoops

A little late this week. Sorry! I got distracted by all sorts of craziness for the last few days--building a set for the show I'm currently rehearsing, finishing up the creative part of my senior project, and possibly starting a new co-authored project with one of the other ladies in my critique group. On top of the typical, life things that always get in the way, like sleeping and eating.

And, yes, you read that right. I've finished the story writing piece of my project. Which leaves me with a semi-academic paper explaining my process, my inspirations and what I gained from writing these shorts (yuck), and my big presentation at the end of the year. I'm tempted to polish up these stories, throw a few old ones in with them, print them out a few times, bind them together into some sort of book and sell them for five bucks a pop. I'm pretty sure no one's going to buy it at a senior project presentation, though. Oh, well. Guess that just means I need to polish them up and send them out to magazines an anthologies instead. That was part of the project goal, after all: a final product that I could potentially look into publishing. Don't worry, the first news of that endeavor will be posted here.

In other news: I didn't win one of the query critiques from Write On Con, but I spent a good hour and a half at Barnes and Noble on Friday, reading through The Writer's Digest Guide to Query Letters, and I have a few more ideas on how to fix up my query before I send it off again. Of course, I need to finish reworking the beginning of Savior before I do so. Motivation! I choose you!

Off to the grindstone! Oljiru kovy.