Posted by Christine on Mar 30, 2010 in General, Publishing, Randomness |
Update in the race for the status of Rejection Queen: No new rejection to report – my number is still at 1. I currently have two outstanding queries. One I’ll admit I don’t think I’m going to hear back from. The other I’m right within the window of reply. So I should hear in the next week or two. This weekend I worked on my query letter. This, of course, is the key to winning the Rejection Queen Crown. You see in order to accumulate rejections one must first send out queries. Without the query there can be no rejection. But, lets be positive here, without the query there can be no acceptance either. 🙂 I spent several hours perusing the web this weekend just reading queries. Yes I’ve done this before but I was looking for something different this time. Something elusive and almost intangible. Hook. I need a hook. That one sentence that makes the agent need to read my book. I knew it wasn’t something I was going to find in someone else’s query but I was hoping that by studying others I could maybe learn what an agent was looking for in the hook. What did I learn? No two query letters look alike. I read the ones agents accepted and posted to their blogs or web sites. Every single one was a bit different. They ranged in tone, style and depth. So, while there are some hard and fast rules (like address the agent by the right name, stick to one page, identify your genre, stick to one page, hook the agent, stick to one page…), I’m thinking that there is a little more flexibility than I want to give myself. The combination for a successful query might be more a cooking recipe, a pinch of this and a dash of that, than a scientific formula, one gram hook, three grams description, two grams personal background. This is one area where I could really use a hard and fast formula that is guaranteed to...
Read More »
Posted by Christine on Mar 26, 2010 in General, Publishing, Randomness |
It’s official ladies and gentleman, this is my web site. This is my blog. Here is it, my public launch. Look around, explore, read some, leave a comment to let me know you were here. But, I decided that to really make my public launch spectacular I needed to share some big news. Something exciting. A piece of news with the word “Queen†in it. “Queen, you say?†Yes, as in Agent Rejection Queen. Say what? She wants to be crowned what? Huh… Allow me to explain. One of the most influential writers in my life thus far is an amazing woman named kc dyer. She is a YA novelist and I had the privilege of meeting her for the first time at SiWC in 2007. Since then I have gotten to know her in person and over the internet. Her guidance, suggestions and friendship have been invaluable in helping me stay motivated, focused and improving my writing to the point where it is ready to be published. Plus she’s just a really cool person to hang out with and lots of fun to be around. It’s also from her that I first heard about the status of Rejection Queen. So what exactly is this, well I think that Deb explains it best in her blog post “Dusting off the Crownâ€. I would add that I think it is an amazing way to help each other stay motivated and positive through the agent hunting process. I was excited to be accepted as a competitor in this especially since I have the honor of competing against kc’s original contender. Here is her post “En Garde!†announcing the official start of the contest. We were also joined by Donna so there are three of us contending for the Rejection Queen Crown. I wish both my other contenders luck. Meaning – I wish them few rejections – so I guess I hope they loose 😉 Really I hope we all find the best possible agent for our work and that this contest makes things a little more fun and a little less stressful along the way. Look for my Rejection Queen Updates on at least a weekly basis here on my blog. In the mean time – ENJOY THE NEW...
Read More »
Posted by Christine on Jan 21, 2008 in Publishing |
There is a lot of waiting in writing. Honestly I had no idea how slowly things moved in the writing world. Not just big things like waiting for replies from agents, but little things. Like waiting to get a critique on your writing. Writing is often an exercise in calm waiting. Or, not. For example this week I have a story up for review on my online critique group. I only check it every ten to fifteen minutes to see if it has gotten any new reviews. Really. Time seems to drag as I wait for the feedback and advise that I know will help make my story better then I could have imagined. Then there’s the big waiting. You send you query letters and you wait. You send your short story to a contest or magazine and you wait. Writing and waiting go hand in hand. The great thing is there is never a reason to be bored. I mean while I’m waiting I can always tell myself a story, and if it’s any good I can write it down. OR, check my writing group every ten minutes. 🙂 Either way, it’s...
Read More »
Posted by Christine on Jan 19, 2008 in Publishing |
You will want to give up, a lot, DON’T. Yes, the odds are completely stacked against you. Yes, maybe Science Fiction doesn’t sell as well as other genres. Yes, maybe getting an agent or editor to read your work will take seven years. All these things may be true, but… If you quit in the six year you will never see the seventh when the agent offers you representation. Science Fiction might have a small audience, but they tend to be loyal. The character in your book tends to have odds stacked against them too. Do you let them just give up…doubtful, if you did it wouldn’t be much of a story. So don’t quit. Keep...
Read More »
Posted by Christine on Oct 22, 2007 in Publishing |
This past weekend I attended the Surrey International Writers Conference. It was, in short, an amazing weekend. But of course there is never a “short†version for an author. So here we go… I spent Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday at the conference. On Thursday I attended a Masters Class on revision with Barbara Rogan. I took three pages of notes and got a lot of good ideas in the workshop. After that hubby and I – I dragged him with me since I was getting an award and all – went out for Sushi… yummy. Friday was an incredible day. I got to attend workshops with writers Nancy Warren, and Jacquelyn Mitchard, as well as having author and Agent interviews with Rachel Vater and Kelley Armstrong. After all that I went to my room and changed clothes for my big night. At dinner I was given the Storytellers award. The Contest was judged by Jack Whyte and Diana Gabaldon, of all the entries these two wonderful writers chose my story “A Decade of Scottsdale” as the winner for the 2007 storytellers award. This is such a huge honor. I am flattered that my story made such an impact on these two writers. During the course of the conference I was able to get both writers to sign my copy of the anthology. Also kc dryer was kind enough to sign it as well, she is the conference and contest coordinator as well as an author… I am not sure how she gets it all done. Saturday was just about the perfect day. I don’t think my feet actually touched the floor all day. As I floated onto the elevator to begin my day I was offered congratulations and complements on my story from people I had never met. Throughout the day I was enriched by attending workshops with Diane Duane, Jacqueline Mitchard, Kelley Armstrong, Diana Gabaldon, Wendy Roberts and I met Vicki Pettersson at the Blue Pencil Cafe. I really enjoyed talking to Vicki and she gave me some great advise and ideas at the Blue pencil cafe. At the banquet that night I had the honor of eating dinner with Kelley Armstrong. She was friendly and personable and I was privileged to be able to share a meal and conversation with her. Throughout the entire day people came up to me and offered congratulations on my story winning first place. I felt like a minor celebrity. The beautiful crystal book sitting on the dresser of my hotel room only heightened my sense of surreal bliss. Sunday began with a funny and insightful keynote address by Bruce Hale. His take on rejection letters had me laughing but at the same time gave me encouragement to stick with my goals. Since I was in Query mode I went to the panel on Fiction Queries that work with agents Sorche...
Read More »
Posted by Christine on Oct 19, 2007 in Publishing, Scottsdale |
I won, I won, I won… oh and did I mention I won? What you ask did I win? I won the Surrey International Writers Conference Storyteller’s award. Yup, that’s right. That contest I posted about way back in July – I won it. Right now at this moment I am so in awe I can hardly describe what I feel. It is so amazing to know that people are reading and enjoying my story. Enough to give it an award. Wanna see.. There a four categories: Writing for Young People, Non-Fiction, Poetry, and The Storyteller’s Award (fiction). They had a group especially donate this engraving just for the Storytellers award, and I won it!!!! How cool is that! I was the only one of the winners to get this crystal engraving!!! The story “A decade of Scottsdale” will be available for sale online after the conference. It ends Sunday and I will post a link to where you can buy it as soon as it is up. Outside of that the conference is going great. I have learned a tremendous amount and I got to meet an author I really like. I will post more when I am not so tired, but now I need to rest so I can be awake for another day of conferencing tomorrow. Good night...
Read More »
