Confessions of a Read-a-thon Grinch

Recently, my son’s school held a read-a-thon to raise money for a field trip. Every parent at the school looked forward to the big event. Every parent except me. And worse, I didn’t dare admit the truth. Shhhhh. I loathe read-a-thons.

I really do love reading with my children—at home by the fire in my comfy couch that is. Reading in a small room with thirty-seven others is less fun. It’s noisy. It’s cramped. Wearing pajamas to school adds another angle--humiliation. And then there's the menu--the dreaded green eggs and ham in honor of Dr. Seuss.

But this year was different. Someone gave me a bathrobe last Christmas. Hearing my son, Leif, read The Cremation of Sam McGee made me forget I was sitting on cold bricks. The eggs were colored with chlorophyll instead of food coloring. By lunch time, Leif had read over thirty books. He was so proud I almost forgot about the noise, the crowding, and my hard seat. Almost. But please don’t ask me to do it again next year.

Query Letters Part III

You're ready to find an agent, but...

Did you complete Part I and Part II? No?

Go to jail, do not pass Go, and do not collect 200 dollars.

I'm serious. Don't start hunting for an agent until you've written a killer query.

Oh. You did that already?

Hooray!

Start the search at www.agentquery.com Here you can search by genre, which saves time. Some agents share their likes and dislikes, plus some of the books they represent.

publishersmarketplace.com lists agents that are actively seeking clients. The list changes often, so keep checking back. For a fee, you can subscribe to Publisher's Lunch. PL provides info on all the current deals between agents and publishing houses, including a short description of each book sold, which gives you a sense of an agent's tastes.

Writer's Digest's blog Guide to Literary Agents is another excellent resource. guidetoliteraryagents.com/blog/ The archives are chock full of interviews with agents. The blog also announces conferences where agents will attend.

Once you narrow down your list, the Google will lead you to other interviews with your prospective agent, which will help you refine and personalize your query letter.

Always check the credentials of your prospective agent at Preditors and Editors. anotherealm.com/prededitors/

Good luck!

Don't miss this contest!

The 2009 Debutantes, under the auspices of the amazing Saundra Mitchell, hold a monthly contest like no other. Just follow the link below, add a comment, and you're can win a bag of treats. There's goodies beyond your wildest imaginings, so don't miss out.

Query Letters Part II

Ack! It's been over two weeks since I wrote anything on query letters. Blame my To Do list. It's grown (or is that groan) to three pages!

So you've been to Nathan Bransford's blog about query letters (see previous post), and taken a stab at writing one. You've deleted the first ten tries, but number eleven isn't half bad. Or is it?

How can you tell?

If you don't mind making your query letter "public," you can have it critiqued for free at:

http://evileditor.blogspot.com

or at

http://queryshark.blogspot.com

For those who aren't up for a public critique, read through the archives to check out other writer's queries. You can see my attempt for My Invented Life here (You have to scroll to Face Lift 314 about half way down):

http://evileditor.blogspot.com/2007_04_01_archive.html

It's bad. I know.

Did I mention that I suck at queries?

Meet Heather Duffy Stone

Are you ready to meet another fabulous debut author?

Heather Duffy Stone writes stories and essays that are mostly inspired by high school—either her own or someone else's. She has lived in Vermont, England, Los Angeles, rural New York and Rome, Italy. For now she cooks, sleeps, explores, writes and teaches in Brooklyn, New York.

She wrote THIS IS WHAT I WANT TO TELL YOU, a haunting story about how secrets can consume a friendship:

Fraternal twins Nadio and Noelle share a close connection—and as Noelle's best friend since they were five, Keeley Shipley fits perfectly into their world. But everything changes after Keeley spends the summer before junior year at Oxford. When Keeley returns, Nadio falls in love with her. Noelle, ripped apart by resentment, sees her as an ungrateful rich girl. But Keeley has a painful story that she can't tell yet. As Nadio and Keeley hide their romance, Noelle dives into something of her own—a destructive affair with an older boy.

I caught up with Heather during her busy debut to ask her a few questions.

One of your characters considers getting a tattoo. Do you have a tattoo? Have you ever thought of getting one? Why not?

ooo. Yes. When I finished this book I said I was going to get a tattoo. I don't have one yet, but I'm going to get one. I know exactly what it is. I carry it around in my bag. I won't tell anyone when I'm doing it though. I see it as a tribute to these characters, who mean so much to me.

If you could visit any place and time for a week, where and when would it be?

I'd re-live a certain drive down the coast of California on a spring weekend about six years ago...I'd lie in the grass dreaming about everything to come during the last week of my senior year of boarding school...I'd go back to that week in southern Turkey. Or, I'd go to Woodstock. I always felt like I was born in the wrong decade.

Woodstock had to be amazing...except maybe for the brown acid. Do you ever experience writer's block?

I certainly get stuck on things. But I usually just write my way through it. Or I do a lot of re-reading. The more times I read a scene, the more it becomes clear what needs to go before or after or in the middle of it.

Do you play music when you write? Have a cup of Chai at your elbow? A cat on your lap?

Sometimes. Lately I've been listening to a lot of Elliot Smith while working on my WIP. I like sunlight. A comfy place to sit, and yet a chair that keeps my back straight. Coffee. I like people around me. Open windows are ideal--street sounds, river sounds, small town sounds. It doesn't matter, I just like the sounds of what is going on around me. I like to look up from my screen and see thing going on.

That sounds like a perfect writing arrangement to me. Thanks so much for visiting my blog.

For more fun with Heather, visit her website and buy her book!

http://www.heatherduffystone.com

http://www.amazon.com/This-What-Want-Tell-You/dp/073871450X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1231340145&sr=8-1