My manuscript is no good. It’s not finished. It needs work. This is the feeling that has been dogging me lately. As I come closer to sending out the first query letter, closer to possibly sending the manuscript itself out, the voices of self-doubt have grown steadily louder.
I was paging absently through the book last [...]
Archive for February, 2008
I’ve Gotta Learn To Trust Myself
Posted in writing on February 27, 2008 | 3 Comments »
It’s Giving Me A Headache, But That Might Just Be From Staring At The Screen For Hours
Posted in writing on February 24, 2008 | 3 Comments »
The query letter is almost done. There’s one sentence that needs a little tweaking, and I have to tabulate an appropriate word count (can’t use the word processor’s number, of course.) I’ve even found one particular agent that I would like to work with. Of course, it’s difficult to tell whether you can work with [...]
Now I Just Need A Line And A Sinker.
Posted in writing on February 21, 2008 | 3 Comments »
OK, I finished the “hook” portion of my query letter. It took about a dozen rewrites, but it’s at the point where it gives the gist of the story, but not the whole thing, with a cliffhanger question of how the story will turn out. I modeled it after the sample in the Writer’s Digest [...]
Unintended Consequence
Posted in writing on February 16, 2008 | 7 Comments »
I’ve been working on the “hook” for my query letter, the part where I describe the story in such a way that agents won’t be able to resist becoming utterly captivated. It’s kind of fun (in a masochistic way) to try boiling the essence of a novel into a short paragraph. It’s actually going better [...]
Trial By Fire
Posted in writing on February 10, 2008 | 2 Comments »
I spent the afternoon doing writerly things that unfortunately did not include any actual writing. I figure that I should spend some time gearing up for the business of writing, or I’m never going to get anywhere. I read up on the process of finding an agent, tips on crafting a query letter and a [...]
Lots Of Story Ideas -All Of Them Bad
Posted in writing on February 6, 2008 | 3 Comments »
While preparing to send stories out in hopes of finding publication, I’ve searched online for advice on constructing a cover letter and general tips for submitting fiction to magazines and journals. Along the way, I happened across a number of lists of things not to do and stories not to write. For some reason, these [...]
