First off, I guess I don't have to tell you that I suck at updating my blog. The Day Job got super crazy the end of May up through now, and it left me with little energy for extra stuff. But I'm making great progress on the revisions for my YA contempary novel! I have a personal goal to make and by George, I'm gonna do it!
Having said that...it occured to me a few days ago that, once again, I needed to write another blasted query letter. Can I tell you how much I loathe writing query letters? A. Lot. I'd rather eat brussel sprouts. Maybe. I'd rather draft 5 contracts from scratch. I think I'd still rather write a query letter than drink milk though. Nasty stuff.
It would be nice to fantasize that I'd have an agent before Boomerang is done so I don't have to write a query letter. Unfortunately, even then, a writer never stops having to reduce his or her book into one or two paragraph blurbs or one liner pitches for one marketing forum or another. I remember doing it for Chasing Shadows (come on, it wasn't that long ago!) for post cards, "back cover" blurb, bookmarks, website, advertising, etc. Writing a query letter is great practice for all the marketing efforts.
So I spent a couple of hours between last night and this morning and took a crack at a 2 paragraph query pitch for Boomerang. I must say...I like it! It seemed too easy. Either I'm better at writing them, having written one (a million times each) for 3 other books, or I'm delusional. I like to think that I've gotten better. (You can keep your thoughts to yourself on this point!) Plus, Boomerang doesn't have a "fantasy" world that I need to build into the query since it's a contemporary story, which made it easier. Screw them brussel sprouts and contracts. I'll write another query letter if it's this easy! Of course, I may not say that the next time...I just think my main character's goals, motivations and conflicts in this book were easy to reduce to a 2 paragraph pitch. I have the who, what, where, why and how and that's what counts. I'll rewrite and/or tweak the query a million times before it goes out the door (after I get some feedback on it), but for a first effort, I'm pleased with myself.
Gah...now I gotta write a one sentence pitch and a synopsis. I'll save them for the hot days of July.
