I haven’t been writing. Life has been keeping me busy. I had a short temporary job that didn’t work out well, and the road back to normalcy has been filled with rabbit trails.

Today it’s back to query letters for Forget-me-not and editing for Mystery Valley Ranch. Your prayers and pleasant thoughts are much appreciated.

Queried 3 agents last week and 6 agents today - all by email. Most just request a query letter (SHORT synopsis - like back of book jacket, info about length, genre, etc), but a few ask for some pages from the manuscript.

I’ve identified agents to query using two different websites - querytracker.com and agentquery.com. An author can search the site by genre or other criteria to choose which agents she’d like to query.

Already have two three rejections. Go me! Heh.

Actually I’d rather have the rejection than just send the query off into the blankness of cyberspace with nary a response. So, thanks to the agents who are quick with the responses.

Revised the query letter a bit. What do you think?

I hoped to query 3 agents today, but so far I’ve only found one that looks promising. Will find 2 more before bedtime!

BEGIN LETTER

If the lost love of your life was just a mouse-click away, would you log off or would you make the click that could change your life?

FORGET-ME-NOT is a contemporary romance offering a nostalgic glimpse into the 80’s contrasted with the social networking technology of the new millennium. The manuscript is complete at 102,000 words and will appeal to women of all ages.

Unwise life choices haunt Jody, a divorced mom of two. The chance discovery of her high school diary thrusts her into a bittersweet journey through her teenage years. Reminiscing sets in motion a chain of events that puts her in contact with an old flame. Will Jody and TJ have a second chance at love?

I graduated from XXXX XXXXX University in 19XX with a degree in English. Earlier this year, I launched a freelance business writing firm called XXXXX.

I am writing to you because you represented XXX XXXX by XXX XXXXX, which I count as one of the most powerful books I’ve read.  (Add sentence describing more about the specific book and/or agent’s work.)

I appreciate the time you’ve taken reading my query. My completed manuscript is ready to send at your request.

END LETTER

I’ve spent a lot of time trying to write my query letter for Forget-me-not. It’s short and hopefully sweet. Input is welcome! Does it need to be expanded? I do plan to adapt the short paragraph targeted at each specific literary agent, explaining why I’ve chosen to query him or her in particular.

BEGIN LETTER

FORGET-ME-NOT is a contemporary romance offering a nostalgic glimpse back into the 80’s, contrasted against the social technology of the new millennium. The manuscript is complete at 102,000 words.

Unwise life choices haunt Jody, a divorced mom of two. The chance discovery of her high school diary sets in motion a chain of events that puts her in contact with an old flame. Will their second chance at love succeed?

I graduated from XXXX XXXXX University in 19XX with a degree in English. Earlier this year, I launched a freelance business writing firm called XXXXX.

I am writing to you because you represented XXX XXXX by XXX XXXXX, which I count as one of the most powerful books I’ve read.  (Add sentence describing more about the specific book and/or agent’s work.)

I appreciate the time you’ve taken reading my query. My completed manuscript is ready to send at your request.

END LETTER

OK, bring on the critiques!

A good thesaurus is indispensable. My word processor had a great integrated thesaurus. That is, up until I updated my software and the thesaurus underwent a transformation to a less useful and more unwieldy version. Sigh.

I can use thesaurus.com and I do so, on occasion. I’ve also used the Visual Thesaurus (see link in sidebar). For a while, I subscribed to it, and I may do so again. But there are times that nothing will do except a BOOK, a real page-turning thesaurus.

I have two hard copy thesauri - one is a perfectly adequate alphabetical one. It could have a few more words in it, but it fits my needs well.

At times, however, I need a categorical thesaurus. It lists the words by concept or theme, instead of alphabetically. Mine is falling apart. (See photo) I need a new one. Any recommendations for a good categorical thesaurus?

While I’m on the topic, I’ll also mention the Romance Writers Phrase Book which I have found quite useful.

Well, mostly I’ve been writing here about word count progress. And that’s probably not all that interesting to y’all, even though I find it very motivating.

Last night I finished editing Forget-Me-Not. It weighed in at 102K words. YAY! I’ve realized that one or two more scenes are needed to tie up loose ends so I’ll be adding those today or this coming week.  My beta readers all have a chunk of the novel and soon they’ll have the entire thing to read and respond to. I’ll make changes as I receive feedback.

This next week, I’ll be beginning to query agents for FMN. I’m also going to drag out my 2008 NaNoNovel, Mystery Valley Ranch (working title) and start editing that.

A painting that is all golden glow and admirable wordless heft

I read a quote today that I thought was worthy of sharing with you.

“To gain the book one must give up all hope for the book. It is the only way the book can get written. While one writes one cannot simultaneously be gazing up at a glorious, abstract painting of what the book should be, a painting that is all golden glow and admirable wordless heft conveying a sense of a book like a bible, like your very own bible, penned by you - and at the same time expect to be advancing into the body of this particular earthy book. It won’t work. You may gaze and gaze, but you may be sure that when you begin to write, that gorgeous ineffable volume will not coalesce on the page. Something else will appear. And then you have a choice. You can accept it, and get on with your writing, or you can throw it away, and pine for the painting. It is so beautiful! When you’re not actually writing, you have the feeling it would be so simple to get it down on paper. Yet when the time comes, your sentences tangle you. They knot and seethe, grasping like desperate children, hampering you and making you fall so that the beautiful book, the infinite book, is forever out of reach.”

From the book Writing Past Dark by Bonnie Friedman

(Thanks to VictoriaPL from the 999 Reading Challenge.)

I wrote the ending today! It’s finished! Just over 100,000 words.

Next week, I’ll go back through and add in chapter divisions and edit for cohesiveness, spelling, etc… (No, I don’t write with chapters already figured out. Can’t seem to do that!) Hopefully I can finish that next week and pass Forget-Me-Not on to my beta-readers.

I’ve now racked up 43,000 words to add to the 51,000 previously written. I think I’m finally on the downswing, wrapping up the plot. YAY Go me! I’d like to finish this week, and it will probably end up around 100K.  Unless one of my characters does something unexpected, which has been known to happen, Forget-me-not should soon be complete - at least in first draft form. Then self-editing will begin and beta reading will follow.

This wine, a Pinot Gris, plays a role in one of the scenes I just finished. My main characters share a bottle over dinner.