Archive for April 2nd, 2004

4/1/04: Query letter

Word count: 63736 | Since last entry: 360 | This month: 360 Sat down and wrote the query letter this evening. It came out very tidily to one page. Everything I’ve read says that query letters are supposed to be hard. I didn’t find it to be so, particularly. On the other hand, I have the whole novel in my head — I know a lot of authors who don’t know what’s coming next and are unable to summarize their novels. So maybe I’m special. Or maybe I’m just incapable of seeing how bad it is. Four days to go. All I have left to do on the proposal is write a few sections which are basically expanded versions of things I just wrote in the cover letter. Should be able to polish it off by Saturday, depending on how much fiddling and noodling I let myself do. I find the whole writing business requires me to constantly reassure myself that I am, indeed, among the best — the top 5% or 10% that actually get published instead of languishing in slush piles — while simultaneously lowering my own expectations, to prevent my soul from being crushed by rejection. So, yes, I am wonderful. But it’s not going to win anyway. Is this a crazy business, or what?