Great Book @ MindSay

So! What's going on, in case you're interested?

Hm.  Put out a new book in June, according to Amazon.com.  It was fun to write, I was helped along amazingly by the Spousal Unit, and it involved a hurricane and tornado and an associate pastor and a strong woman with great shoulders. :)  I'm going to be working on its sequel just as soon as Spousal Unit takes me to Captiva and/or Sanibel.  I auctioned off my complete "collection" and a cameo at the last family reunion, so I have to write the sequel. I've already got guests in the book.

Been writing a great deal of other things, too. 

Spousal Unit has been working a great deal, which is a blessing in this economy. 

Cyclone has eight classes in his sophomore year at high school. Four of them are honors courses.  He's got seven A's and one B+ on his report card for the quarter. I am enormously proud of him even if I don't have a clue what he's learning in Honors Chemistry.

Builder is in second grade, but is spending a month in the third grade and enjoying it.  His behavior has improved. I am not sure if they would consider bumping him up for the rest of the year, there and just promoting him...  But even if not, he's doing well there right now and I'm grateful.  His current passions are still designing floorplans and dreaming of moving to some acreage somewhere, where we'll have no near neighbors and lots of space.  And chickens. We want chickens.

Someone didn't close the freezer all the way last night so we woke up to snow in South Florida.  Okay. Snow in my freezer, anyway.  It was cool. Cold.  Fun. :)

I am currently typing decaffeinatedly (nope not a word but I bet you know what it means) so I should probably fix that.

Here on the MindSay Reunion Tour, courtesy of Smurfy, CallMeRoger and Tootboy...

The Quill. :)

P.S. "family unit" and "great book" were tags suggested by the tag-suggester. lol I thought I'd toss 'em in.

Feeling lost?  Scroll to the bottom of this page and click on "Blog Archive" to read this tale of woe from the beginning.  If you're all caught up, please enjoy the latest exciting installment...
_____________________________________________________________________________________

Plagiarism.  It's one of the scariest words a writer can hear.

Plagiarism.  It means an idea has been stolen.  It means the author is a thief.  It means you are reading someone else's unaccredited thoughts.

Well, I'm not exactly going to be a plagiarist here, but I am going to steal someone else's material.  The 2007 Writer's Market, a guide for "where and how to sell what you write," has a great section on query letters.  I've written about these important, nay, these vital letters before, but this guide offers something new I would like to add.  Something I find very interesting, and any aspiring writers out there who have not read a copy of the 2007 Writer's Market, should find interesting too.  

And for the people reading this who aren't interested in publishing, but just want to follow this fruitless quest of mine, today's post is leading to my next attempt to nab a book agent and get published.

That being said, let's start with a direct quote from the 7th edition of this fabulous book guide:  

"Many great writers ask year after year, 'Why is it so hard to get published?'  In many cases, these writers have spent years - and possibly thousands of dollars on books and courses - developing their craft.  They submit to the appropriate markets, yet rejection is always the end result.  The culprit?  A weak query letter."

So, let's take that to heart, and let's put some effort into this little query letter of ours.  I mean, sure, my books stink, but if I can get an agent interested through my query, at least I'm somewhere, right?  Hell, maybe this agent can help guide me toward a new, more publishable book (I'm already working on a new one, by the way, and in an upcoming post I can tell you about that one as well as some other ideas I have, if you're interested).

Alright then, that's settled.  But, how do you avoid the weak query syndrome?  I've written about query letters before.  But today, I want to include a step-by-step breakdown found in the Writer's Market.  It's a nice vaccine for that aforementioned syndrome.  You ready?  Good, then keep reading.

Query letters should have four main paragraphs:

1.    A captivating opening that reveals title, word count, and genre.  Ideas for such an opening include:

a.    Using a dramatic hook
b.    Offering an attention-grabbing fact
c.    Having a personal connection with the agent
d.    Presenting the who, what, where, when, why of you and your story
e.    Describing your impressive credentials

2.    The plot of your book

a.    As our friends at the Writer's Market say, "Woo your agent with a sizzling four-sentence pitch.  Focus only on your main character, beginning with the inciting incident and moving swiftly through the climax to fulfillment.  Never beg, tease, or coach.  Let the agent decide whether or not she loves it.  Just tell your story, including the end, in an honest way."

3.    Your biography

a.    Give them enough information to learn about you without boring them with your life story.

4.    The close

a.    Let the agent know you are looking for representation.  And, if you are sending this letter via mail, tell the agent that you have included a self addressed stamped envelope (that is, if you have, which you should, or you may not ever receive an answers).

And that's all there is to it.  Yep, simple.  As simple as writing a good novel.

So, here's the deal: I'll write a query letter based on this formula, and you meet me next week to review it.  Deal?  Good.  

Later.    

First bit of news:  Ian and I have adopted a pair of itty-bitty kittens.  ^_^  They are absolutely adorable, and of course I really don't object to having them in the house along with Meadow (the full-grown female cat he's had for years).  But there's one problem:  Meadow objects to having them in the house with Meadow.  lol 

 

I love her to death, I really do, but she is EXTREMELY pissy about us bringing other animals into the house, especially cats.  She really dislikes dogs, but she will tolerate a dog in the house far better than she will tolerate another cat or cats.  In fact, "tolerate" is a really strong word to use for it.  The last time we brought another cat in, she went basically psychotic.  She spent most of her time hiding from us, and when the other cat made the mistake of getting too close to her, she attacked it.  Then, when Ian tried to separate the two of them, she decided to attack him instead.  So yeah.  That didn't work out so well.  I mean, Kabota was happier at the shop anyway, which was where he lived before we brought him home, so it worked out for the best.  But still.  Scary psycho-kitty.

 

So this time, Ian and I came home with the two kittens.  I brought them inside while Ian stayed out talking with the neighbors.  They were in a little cardboard box with a towel inside, all curled up and whatnot.  I walked in, and Meadow was waiting at the doorway, as she usually does.  I told her Hello, then I placed the box down on the floor.  Then I sat down beside the box and waited to see what would happen.  Of course, I had a fairly good idea already, but anyway.

 

She slowly approached the box, sniffing the air as she went.  When she got close enough to see and figure out what they were, she hissed in their general direction.  I said something along the lines of, "It's all right, Meadow."  Then she turned and hissed at me.  Then she slinked off to assume her post underneath the rocker, which is one of the places she likes to hide when she's mad. 

 

So yeah.  She's in Queen Bitch mode.  She won't attack the kittens or anything like that.  (Honestly, they're still very young, so we don't let them wander around by themselves anyway.)  No, she would rather stay hidden as long as she knows they're around.  And we've mostly just left her alone.  Any attempt to coax her out only makes her more hostile, so basically we just let her be.  She's gotta deal with it in her own time.  But suffice it to say that she is very unhappy with the both of us.  =P

 

In other news:  Yesterday's band practice was a royal fuck-up deluxe.  We're learning a new show, and there are still several bugs to be worked out.  One spot in particular is where the entire back half of the band crosses through each other for 36 counts of 6-to-5 marching, then once we hit that spot we continue marching right to the next set.  Band nerds will know what I mean by that.  The rest of you....Just know that there's a part where we march across the field, get to our spots, then immediately start going to our next spots, without stopping.

 

Well.  We did a complete run-through of the show twice.  The first time we did it, everybody in my section of the field screwed up long before that one move.  Then it came time for the move, and we marched across the field.  We hit our spots, and I continued marching. 

 

One problem:  Nobody else in my section moved.

 

I was like, "Um....guys?"  Cuz I'm in the very back of the line, and nobody saw me moving.  (Nobody usually sees or hears me anyway.)  So I was like, "Great.  I'm going to look like an idiot, but I'm the only one right."  And so I was.  They moved when they thought they were supposed to move, and I was nearly two moves ahead of them, but I was right.  When the song finished, they were all like, "What happened?  How did we end up in the wrong spot?"  I was like, "Ugh."  -_-

 

So we ran through the show again.  We did that same move again.  And I'll be God damned, the same damn thing happened again:  I kept moving, and they all stood still.  This time I shouted, "No!!  We keep moving!!"  And I don't think they realized exactly who said it, but they heard me and moved.  I was like, "About friggin' time." 

 

*sigh*  But yes.  That was indeed a royal fuck-up deluxe.  lol

 

And finally in recent news:  Memoirs of a Geisha is an AWESOME book.  I'm almost halfway through it already, and I started it yesterday morning.  Yes, I love to read, and I do read quite fast, but the point is I've been unable to put it down.  I can't express in words what makes it so amazing, but just trust me.  You will be captivated once you begin reading it.  It's a great read.  I may rent the movie after I finish the book, just to see if they managed to pull it off.

 

Well, that's all the news I had to report at the moment.  I will be rather busy over the next couple of weeks, since I have three papers due in three different classes, all for the same teacher, all within like, a day or two of each other.  So I'll do what I can, but don't be surprised if you don't hear from me for a day or two.  =P

 

Until next time,

 

TheFallenAngel

 

P.S. -- Still working on the next episode of Doodles Mcgee!!  =)

While most people wouldn't give a crap about this.  For me it is too exciting not to share.  I finially got my review copy of The Illusrated Flora of East Texas Vol 1 I have been waiting years for this book to get printed.  Of course it is only the first of what will probably run into three volumes.  And they run about $100 a piece.  Luckily I have botanists that love me and they sent me one for free.  The first volume covers monocots, ferns and gymnosperms and runs about 1,600 pages.