| Monica Bustamante Wagner |
Out of respect for the senseless loss of lives here in Colorado this week, I am not going to post for this week. Blogging about things like writing tips seems ridiculous right now. I am heartbroken for those who lost loved ones in that movie theater, and I'm angry that it happened in the first place. I get that "guns don't kill, people do," but we sure make it easy when someone can purchase 6,000 rounds of ammo and 4 guns and no one blinks an eye. It would have been much more difficult for him to kill if he'd had to stab each person to death instead. As I live close to both Columbine and the movie theater (and many here are still dealing with the aftermath of the wildfires), I can say that Colorado is a little shell-shocked right now. I won't be online much this week, but my deepest condolences go out to those affected by this tragedy. I hope that everyone takes time to tell their families that they love them, and remember to make every moment count.
The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is #2..Feaky Snucker! Congrats! I'll email instructions regarding your query critique. Thanks to everyone who entered, and check back soon for another chance to win! I'll be back in a few weeks with another Query Critique Wednesday. In the meantime, check out my new query services link to the right if you need a query critique ASAP.
It's Wednesday Query Critique time! Remember to enter by midnight EST in order for your chance to win the weekly query critique.
REMINDERS: These critiques are for those who prefer a private critique versus a public one. Please read my prior post on
Query Tips before entering. Also, as mentioned in my big giveaway, I tend to be very direct and picky, but my goal is to get your query in the best shape possible. Finally, the query is only the first step--make sure the entire book is as good as the query before you hit "Send" to an agent or editor. To enter the weekly query critique giveaway, simply follow the directions below. Good luck!
RULES:
Just leave a comment telling me you'd like to be entered in the giveaway and give your email address, using (at) and (com) as follows so the spam bots don't find you.
I will use a random number generator to pick the winner who will receive a query critique through email.
NOTE: If your query involves space monkeys, I might make an exception and do an extra critique!
The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is #2..Patesden! Congrats! I'll email instructions regarding your query critique. Thanks to everyone who entered, and check back soon for another chance to win! Also, please keep noting how many times you've entered because I've been doing extra critiques for persistent folks who have entered 5 or more times in a row. Good luck! :)
It's Wednesday Query Critique time! Remember to enter by midnight EST in order for your chance to win the weekly query critique.
REMINDERS: These critiques are for those who prefer a private critique versus a public one. Please read my prior post on
Query Tips before entering. Also, as mentioned in my big giveaway, I tend to be very direct and picky, but my goal is to get your query in the best shape possible. Finally, the query is only the first step--make sure the entire book is as good as the query before you hit "Send" to an agent or editor. To enter the weekly query critique giveaway, simply follow the directions below. Good luck!
RULES:
Just leave a comment telling me you'd like to be entered in the giveaway and give your email address, using (at) and (com) as follows so the spam bots don't find you.
I will use a random number generator to pick the winner who will receive a query critique through email.
NOTE: If your query involves space monkeys, I might make an exception and do an extra critique!
When you're writing a novel, I'm a big believer in rewarding yourself for achieving the baby steps along the way. For instance, when I'm in the revision process after finishing my first draft, I reward myself with chocolate after revising each chapter (don't judge). I'd like to say the satisfaction of writing and revising is entirely its own reward, but sometimes I need that extra shot of motivation.
So when I really want to push myself, the reward needs to be bigger, and then I'm way more likely to reach my goal. I don't watch much television and don't have any of those recording thingies to watch shows later, but I have a crazy addiction to Design Star on HGTV--I know, some people have a wild side, and mine is dan-ger-ous. Anyway, guess who hit her word count goal last week with over 30 minutes to spare? This girl. It's on again tonight and I'm sure I'll hit my goal today too, because no way in hell am I missing David Bromstad's pep talks regarding room decor (I'm so badass like that).
Now that I've confessed my sure-fire writing reward, I want to know about you. How do you reward yourself? (It's okay if your method isn't as hard-core as mine. Not everyone can be this cool. ;)
I live in a town that bows down to the two big G's: God and Guns (I think in that order, but it's not always clear). Needless to say, 4th of July is probably second only to Christmas here in terms of celebration. People wear a badge of pride about crossing the border into Wyoming before the 4th to get the good (aka illegal) fireworks. Competitions for the best fireworks are common place, and authorities often look the other way at the "dangerous" kind. One of the best illegal displays last year was the guy down the block from me--who happens to be a firefighter.
Despite the ban on all fireworks this year (including the town's big extravaganza) due to the worst year of wildfires on record, my hubby and I were sure that someone would shoot off something to mark America's holiday. We were positive that some jerk would endanger others by taking issue with their God-given right to bear firearms or fireworks. We were wrong.
One of the themes I explore in my novels is just what it would take to bring people together and forget their differences, be they political, religious, or otherwise. I'm not sure what the answer was tonight, but the silence was deafening.
Maybe it was the smoke that still hung thick in the air from the fires, prompting an air advisory to stay indoors. Maybe it was the fact that an entire neighborhood burned to the ground less than forty minutes from here, leaving only razed houses and dead bodies in its wake. Maybe the answer, sad as it is, is that it takes something horrific for people to come together.
All I know is that not a single firecracker was heard the entire night. The eerie quiet seemed to symbolize that people realized their families and neighborhoods were more important than anything else. That maybe we have more in common than we, or the media, want to believe. I don't know if I can live here forever, but I found a spark of humanity in the silence tonight. For now, that is enough.
Up until now, I've written my novels solely via laptop. Sure, I've mapped out outlines, ideas, and characters in a notebook (okay, so I have notebooks everywhere, and it might be an addiction, but that's a different post), but the actual writing has taken place at my computer. Then I had something weird happen a few weeks ago.
(
NOTE: This is not the actual pen used, but I am SO getting this pen one day!)
I had a client need to reschedule an appointment at work, which left me with an entire hour of writing time--except that my laptop was at home. For some reason, I pulled out my legal pad rather than the cute flowered notebooks I usually carry, and decided to write a chapter. The words flew onto the page, and when I typed them into the computer that night, I'd written almost 3K words...in an hour. For me, that's a lotta words, and even though I took shorthand in high school, I also took typing, so I couldn't believe how fast I was. The other strange part was that when I went back the next day to edit, it required way less editing than usual. In the next two days, I easily wrote two more chapters that way. I know there are studies out there about enhanced neural activity and increased memory capacity in writing versus typing, but I'd never tried it out for myself.
Summer with the kiddos has challenged my writing time, but my goal for this week is to get 10K words completed, because I'm excited to finish my new book...and because my agent is waiting patiently for it.;)
Have you tried writing in longhand versus typing? Anyone else notice a difference? Oh, and Happy July 4th! The Wednesday Query Critique will be back next Wed. 7/11.
The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is #1..Laura Hughes! Congrats--I guess 5th time is the charm! I'll email instructions regarding your query critique. Thanks to everyone who entered, and check back soon for another chance to win! Also, please keep noting how many times you've entered because I've been doing extra critiques for persistent folks who have entered 5 or more times in a row. Good luck! :)
It's Wednesday Query Critique time! Remember to enter by midnight EST in order for your chance to win the weekly query critique.
REMINDERS: These critiques are for those who prefer a private critique versus a public one. Please read my prior post on
Query Tips before entering. Also, as mentioned in my big giveaway, I tend to be very direct and picky, but my goal is to get your query in the best shape possible. Finally, the query is only the first step--make sure the entire book is as good as the query before you hit "Send" to an agent or editor. To enter the weekly query critique giveaway, simply follow the directions below. Good luck!
RULES:
Just leave a comment telling me you'd like to be entered in the giveaway and give your email address, using (at) and (com) as follows so the spam bots don't find you.
I will use a random number generator to pick the winner who will receive a query critique through email.
NOTE: If your query involves space monkeys, I might make an exception and do an extra critique!
Writing is fun, but it's not easy. It takes long hours, dedication, and the willingness to revise something for the umpteenth time until you (or your agent/editor) are happy with it.
"I'd like to write a book someday too, when I have the time to fritter away." I got that comment from a well-meaning friend of mine who knows I'm a writer: I think it was the "fritter away" part that actually made my teeth grind together. Writers know that there is no magic time fairy who waves her wand over us and gives us blocks of time that other mere mortals don't have (that would be SO cool though). The difference between people who write books and the people who just talk about writing books is simple. People who write books commit to the writing.
We write when other people are watching reality shows. We write until the wee hours of the night when everyone else is asleep (long after the caffeine has worn off). We rise at ungodly hours to squeeze in several pages before work or before the kids wake up (long before the caffeine has kicked in.) Even when not writing, we are thinking about writing. Plot issues and characterization get worked out in the shower or while folding laundry. Whether we eek out a paragraph at a time, or multiple pages in a sitting, we keep writing...and writing...until we have a finished book.
We have families, jobs, volunteer commitments, and chores (did I mention laundry?), just like everyone else. Unlike everyone else, we commit to telling stories, one sentence at a time. I'm a writer. What about you?
Do you have what it takes?
The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is #1..Randall Sexton! Congrats! I'll email instructions regarding your query critique. Thanks to everyone who entered, and check back soon for another chance to win! Also, please keep noting how many times you've entered because I've been doing extra critiques for persistent folks who have entered 5 or more times in a row. Good luck! :)
It's Wednesday Query Critique time! (See, I promised it would be back this week.) Remember to enter by midnight EST in order for your chance to win the weekly query critique.
REMINDERS: These critiques are for those who prefer a private critique versus a public one. Please read my prior post on
Query Tips before entering. Also, as mentioned in my big giveaway, I tend to be very direct and picky, but my goal is to get your query in the best shape possible. Finally, the query is only the first step--make sure the entire book is as good as the query before you hit "Send" to an agent or editor. To enter the weekly query critique giveaway, simply follow the directions below. Good luck!
RULES:
Just leave a comment telling me you'd like to be entered in the giveaway and give your email address, using (at) and (com) as follows so the spam bots don't find you.
I will use a random number generator to pick the winner who will receive a query critique through email. NOTE: If your query involves space monkeys, I might make an exception and do an extra critique!
If you haven't checked out my guest post over at Rainy of the Dark, head on over: When the Writing Gets Tough, The Tough Get Writing...eventually. Thanks to Rainy for having me! :)
For those who wish to pursue the traditional path to publication, it often involves finding an agent who will, in turn, submit your work to editors at publishing houses. In order to find an agent, one must send out query letters. The purpose of my Wednesday Query Critique Giveaway (which I swear I'm getting back to next week) is to help people polish their queries before they send them out into the world. If you're at the stage where you're ready to query, and have carefully researched agents using sites such as Querytracker and AgentQuery, here's why I'm a proponent of sending queries out in batches of 3-5 (aka The Batch Method):
1) If you don't get any responses other than form rejections or the sound of chirping crickets, your query likely needs work. The good news is that since you only sent out a few queries, you haven't used up all your top picks at once.
2) If you get partial requests off the bat, then you know your query doesn't suck, BUT that's all it means (sorry, harsh but true). Wait and see what happens. If the partial requests are all rejected, then it means the book didn't live up to the query. Take any personalized feedback to heart and work on the book again before sending out more queries. Again, because you're using the batch method, you still have a ton more agents to query.
3) If the partial requests turn into full requests, then you should do a little happy dance because it's definitely a step in the right direction. I'd also recommend sending queries to any remaining top choices if you haven't already because things can move pretty quickly at this point. Some people recommend waiting until you actually have an offer of representation and then dashing off queries to any remaining top picks, but that feels icky to me. If you've done your research, you should only be querying agents that you feel confident about in the first place.
Has anyone used this method? Any other tips people would like to share about querying?
Happy Querying! And I'll be back with Query Critique Wednesday next week.
Wow, there are some creative cursers out there, and I applaud each and every one of you. Seriously, thanks to everyone who entered and shared their words with the world. I had a hard time picking the winner, and even had my husband read the entries. He laughed at the sames ones I did, but this doesn't mean the judging was objective--it just means we have the same weird sense of humor. Anyway, here are the results:
1st Runner Up: Wild Ape for "Petarded." I'm not sure why I loved this word so much. It could have been the Shakespearean influence which reminded me of terms like "thou artless elf-skinned horn-beast," or the close proximity to the politically incorrect term for doing something stupid. Either way, this word is great.
NOTE: In the event that the winner is either unable or unwilling to uphold the expectations of winning (or if nude pictures of the winner are discovered in Playboy), the 1st Runner Up will win the prize.
GRAND-PRIZE WINNER: Feaky Snucker wins for "Cork Sucking Ice Hole." The R-rated version of this entry also had me (and my hubby) laughing, and I'm still trying to find a way to work it into a conversation (e.g. that guy in accounting is a total f*ck-shovel). Congrats, Feaky Snucker, you win the YA book of your choice!
We'll do another contest soon, so let me know if you have any creative contest ideas! I'll be back with the regular Wednesday Query Critique next week. :)
The Random Number Generator has spoken and the winner is...Dan Hanks! I'll email instructions regarding your query critique. Thanks to everyone who entered, and check back soon for another chance to win! Also, please keep noting how many times you've entered because I've been doing extra critiques for persistent folks who have entered 5 or more times in a row. Good luck! :)
QUICK NOTE: If you haven't entered the
Creative Curse Word Contest, you can still enter by Fri. to win the YA book of your choice, so get cursing!
It's
Wednesday Query Critique time! Remember to enter by
midnight EST in order for your chance to win the weekly query critique.
REMINDERS: These critiques are for those who prefer a private critique versus a public one. Please read my prior post on
Query Tips before entering. Also, as mentioned in my big giveaway, I tend to be very direct and picky, but my goal is to get your query in the best shape possible. Finally, the query is only the first step--make sure the entire book is as good as the query before you hit "Send." To enter the weekly query critique giveaway, simply follow the directions below. Good luck!
RULES:
Just leave a comment telling me you'd like to be entered in the giveaway and give your email address, using (at) and (com) as follows so the spam bots don't find you.
I will use a random number generator to pick the winner who will receive a query critique through email. NOTE: If your query involves space monkeys, I might make an exception and do an extra critique!
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I love male MCs! They're a nice change of pace. Ha, I admit, I saw the title and cover and clicked this blog post already having decided to read it, whether the review was good or bad. So I'm especially glad it's good!
C.J.
Sarcasm&Lemons, a book blog
Yeah, I was hooked by the cover too and am glad I loved the book as much as the cover.