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!

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.

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.

I wrote more than 9000 words this week. Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday were all 3000 word days. Thursday was a bust for writing - only about 600 words. Friday is too busy for writing, but hopefully I can accomplish some on Sat or Sun.

The main characters are coming to a point of resolution, but something is going to come along to cause a little problem for them.

I am at 84K right now total for the book, but I am guessing another 10-12K is going to be needed. No worries though. In editing, I am sure a lot of dead weight will be excised.

I plan to finish writing it this week, read through it once and make obvious changes, spell check it, and then get it printed out so I can do some serious editing before passing it on to the beta readers. (Wanna be a beta?)

This is the music I listen to while I am writing Forget-Me-Not. (TJ and Jody’s story)  Several of the songs figure into the story significantly.

1. Feels Like the First Time - Foreigner (03:52)

2. Lights - Journey (03:11)
3. Babe - Styx (04:26)
4. Don’t Stop Believin’ - Journey (04:11)
5. Celebration - Kool & the Gang (03:45)
6. You Really Got Me (Remastered Album Version) - Van Halen (02:39)
7. Every Little Thing She Does - The Police (04:24)
8. Bohemian Rhapsody - Queen (05:55)
9. Kiss on my List - Hall & Oates (03:56)
10. Cold as Ice - Foreigner (03:21)
11. Dancing in the Streets - Van Halen (03:48)
12. Sail Away - Styx (06:05)
13. Jamie’s Cryin’ (Remastered Album Version) - Van Halen (03:31)

14. Open Arms - Journey (03:19)
15. We Are the Champions - Queen (03:03)
16. Dance the Night Away - Van Halen (03:08)
17. Rosanna - Toto (04:05)
18. He’s So Shy - The Pointer Sisters (03:40)
19. All Out of Love - Air Supply (04:05)
20. Waiting for a Girl Like You - Foreigner (04:36)
21. Jessie’s Girl - Rick Springfield (03:16)
22. The One That You Love - Air Supply (04:15)
23. Kiss on My List - Hall & Oates (03:51)
24. Queen of Hearts - Juice Newton (03:30)
25. Harden My Heart - Quarterflash (03:38)

Forget-Me-Not, the title of the novel and an important theme throughout the plot....

So the writing progresses.

Last week, I wrote only 600 words. My husband was injured a week ago and last week was filled with caring for him and doing the things he usually does.

I was determined to make THIS week count.  Monday I wrote 2000 words. Yesterday I was gone all day and wrote nothing. Today, however, I made up for it by writing 3000 words! I’m on a roll! I know where the story is going and the words are just flowing.

As I have posted before, I am writing a continuation of my 2007 NaNoNovel which is 51,000 words long. So far I’ve written more than 20,000 words on the continuation, which puts my novel at a total of more than 71,000 words! Now, my 2008 NaNoNovel was 75,000 words long, so this isn’t the longest I’ve written. However, I am nowhere near done telling my story! So, this should be long enough, when complete, to be considered a full-length novel, making it more marketable.

My main characters are at a crisis point right now, which is heart-rending yet exciting to write! I am having fun, and it almost seems mean to be having fun writing their star-crossed story.