How I Query

I was told perhaps I should talk a bit about my querying process, since I’m going through it right now.

The majority of my querying has been done as the result of contests, but I do also own a copy of the 2013 Children’s Writer & Illustrator’s Market to hunt for agents. When I started to prep for the process, I went through the book and picked a handful of agents.  I made up a spreadsheet where I added the agency name, agent I was planning on querying, their email address and website. I added cells for what they wanted in a query (how many pages, email or snail mail, etc.) and cells for when I sent the query and when I got a reply. Finally I added a space for comments.

I’ve used this spreadsheet for all the agents who requested pages from the Pitch Madness contest.  I’ve found it really handy to have all my information in one place. I can check to see who I’m still waiting to hear back from and the comments lets me see if my rejections are saying the same kinds of things and perhaps it’s an issue for me to look into before sending the next round out.

Also very important is to check on the agency website and agentquery.com to make sure that agency is still accepting Young Adult submissions. Even though my Market book is from this year, I have already found several who are no longer looking for YA. I add them to my spreadsheet so I won’t accidentally query another agent from that agency. No point in wasting all our time, right?

Once I have my grouping of agents I’m going to query, I start making up my letters.  The majority of it will be the same for each agent, but I always add in something about why I’m choosing that particular agent or agency whether they’ve published other authors who write similar books or that I admire, or if it’s because I follow the agent on Twitter and am responding to a call they put out, etc.  It takes time, but it’s important to personalize the letters.

Before hitting the send button, I double check name spelling (both the agency and the agent!), make sure the part of my story that is included is copied into the body and that the formatting is correct.  If they ask for an attachment (this typically only happens after they’ve gotten your query and ask for a partial or full) then I double check that I’ve given them the amount they asked for in the right version of Word or a PDF, etc.

I send them all out, mark my spreadsheet and sit back and wait…and wait….and wait.  Of course I could be prepping more letters during that wait period, but normally I’m too busy working on other things.

That’s my basic process. Any questions?  Is your process similar? Any hints on how to improve upon it?

It’s All in the Voice Contest

I’m participating in Between the Sheet‘s blog hop/contest about character voice. We’re to post the opening 250* words and hoppers will give their opinions and critiques. Excited to see what people think!

 

*mine is slightly longer than 250 just to end off at the end of a paragraph.

 

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Title: Heavyweight

Genre: YA GLBT contemporary romance

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Chapter One

 

So I’ve got six rules for dating. They go like this:

1) Never date the same person for more than one month.

2) Never date the same person twice.

3) Always behave like a gentleman, but try to remain distant and aloof.

4) Never give more than a kiss. Preferably short pecks. Definitely no tongue.

5) For the love of God, NO TOUCHING BREASTS!

6) Always end it with an “It’s not you, it’s me” speech, highlighting their greatness while making yourself out to be the dog.

I’ve got my reasons, but these keep me sane. Keeps most of the girls from getting too attached and keeps my balls intact after I let them go.

A brunette ball of energy bounds my way, all smiles and twinkling eyes. My name is on her glossy coral lips and her curves are probably the focus of every hot-blooded male standing on the green. Holding back a sigh, I open my arms to receive her but as she’s rocketing my way, something—or actually someone—catches my attention.

Who.

Is.

That?!

Shoulder-length black hair with…are those blue stripes artfully running through it? Skin like porcelain. The sun reflects off a silver lip ring. It seems to be winking at me. Slight build, yet the skin tight tee shows that he must work out.

Shit. My jaw is hanging and there is drool on my chin. My teeth click with a snap and I try to focus on the girl hugging me. Maggie’s soft body is rubbing up against mine as she greets me hello, but I cannot seem to avert my gaze from the new boy. Who is that Adonis?

Brain Dead…

So, I’m afraid this isn’t going to be much of a post. Between spending my days trying to pick up freelance work to make ends meet and starting training for a new job, I am totally and utterly spent. I haven’t written any fiction in about three weeks. Three weeks!  That makes me super sad, but what’s a girl to do when she has bills to pay?

I’m panicked and stressed and exhausted. I’m still waiting on answers from three other agents (hopefully some good news soon on that front) and I’ve got a synopsis to write so I can submit a short to  Xchyler Publishing‘s call for their paranormal anthology.

I would love you guys forever if you could throw out some blog topics you might like me to cover. That would make things easier if it was one more thing I didn’t have to think up! Hahah

I haven’t forgotten about getting the writing question answered by other authors so I’ve got that coming up soon and Thursday I am taking part in a blog hop contest about character voice over at Between the Sheets* so you’ll see the first 250 words of Heavyweight up then. Any other ideas you could come up with would be suuuuuper appreciated!

Thank you!!

* If you’re a writer, it’s not too late to enter Heather’s contest! Click the link above for Between the Sheets and add yourself to the comments!

Thursday Teaser: Heavyweight

Here’s another sneak peak into Heavyweight.

 

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The game picks back up and I can hear the juices in my stomach battling to digest the massive quantity of crap I just rammed into it. Sweat pops out on my brow and I feel shaky. My stomach cramps, causing my eyes to go wide and my ass to clench. I need a bathroom. Now.

I stand, praying I can make it to a bathroom. The twins get up with me, but I wave them back down, calling over my shoulder that I’ll be back, before practically sprinting down the bleachers.

Fans are going crazy, so something good must be going on in the game. I use the ruckus to sneak into the tunnel that leads from the end of the field back into the school locker rooms.

Thankfully, it’s empty as I rush into a stall, shaky hands fumbling with the latch. I debate whether to sit or bend over. It’s coming out from one end or the other. Both are awful, but from the mouth is better for my weight issues.

I bend at the waist. Kneeling would be better, but I can’t risk someone coming in and seeing my feet sticking out. Closing my eyes, I take a deep breath; brace myself before shoving two fingers down my throat.

Acid rises along with my dinner. One never gets used to the burning sensation nor the horrific taste it leaves in its wake. I retch repeatedly, noisily expelling the garbage I so recently filled my body with.

Time escapes me as I repeat the process making sure to rid my body of as much of the junk as possible. An intermittent flush helps keep the smell at bay and hide some of the offending sounds in case someone has entered. When the dry heaves hit, I know I’m done. My hands are bracing themselves against the sides of the stall. Slowly I straighten to an upright position. When I feel stable, I use the back of my hand to wipe my mouth. Damn, my breath could knock over the whole team. I suddenly remember I’ve got mints in my locker. Zero calorie mints, my new best friend.

Unlocking the door, I push it open, listening for the sounds that would mean others are in the locker room. I’m met with silence. At least something is going my way today. Throwing on the taps, I hurry to scrub my face and hands, gargle some water. My shirt is stuck to my body like a second skin and one eye is blood shot. Shit. You know you threw up a lot when you burst blood vessels in your eye. There’s not going to be anyway to hide that. I’m going to have to be honest, to a degree anyhow, and tell them I got sick. I’ll just explain I don’t eat a lot of fried stuff. That should work, right? I freakin’ hope so.

Deciding there’s nothing else to do about my pallor and horror-show eye, I head to grab some mints. A handful tossed into my mouth and I’m shutting the locker when someone else enters the room.

“Whoa Quinn, you look like you’ve been ridden hard and put away wet. You got that cute Chink in here with you? Or maybe it’s the brother? You were quick to come to his defense the other day.” Andrews taunts me, a broken helmet dangling from his hand.

Rage fills me as I rush forward and slam him up against a row of lockers. The sound of his body hitting the metal is more satisfying that I would have thought.

“Watch your fucking language you piece of white trash. Didn’t your momma teach you if you don’t have anything nice to say to shut your goddamn mouth?” I’m on a roll. No need to stop now. “Ooh right, she skipped out on you to bang the UPS man.”

I think I hear the moment he snaps. Everyone knows not to bring up the fact that Mrs. Andrews left her husband and young son to travel the state with the man in the big brown truck.

His fist shoots out before I can even think of moving. It connects with my eye. Oddly enough, this abates my anger and I’m satisfied I have a cover up for the blown blood vessels. He pulls back, ready to knock me back a second time, but I’m more aware now and catch his fist, curling my fingers tightly around his swelling hand. I’m itching to hit him back, but know if I’m caught fighting on school grounds I could be kicked off the team. Better him than me.

“That was your one shot, and maybe I deserved it, but you keep spouting that racist homophobic bullshit and I will find you off school grounds and give you a beating that will require wiring your jaw shut. Watch yourself.” I shove his arm back and he reels, hitting the lockers with another satisfying clunk. Eye smarting, I leave him behind to ponder my threat.

Indie Author Month – 2013

This is the second year the folks at the Aside from Writing blog are spending a whole month helping to promote Indie Authors. Each day will have a new post from a different Indie author. It could be an article, an interview, cover reveals, or an excerpt, all writing related. Not only can you read some great posts but perhaps you’ll find some incredible new authors to read and enter their GIANT giveaway! 30+ books for one lucky winner. How awesome is that?!

I’ll be in the spotlight on the 13th talking about why I write Young Adult novels, so be sure to stop by then, but really, you should check out each day and see the great things they have going on!

Feel free to help share the event via Facebook or Twitter and don’t forget to enter the giveaway!

Featured on May 13th!