Plugging away

First off, I want to thank my regular readers. Apparently there are two of you out there. My blog had two hits for each of the last two days, even though I didn’t post a thing.

Maybe I’m wrong, but it makes me think there are some people out there who actually look forward to what I have to say. I’ll try not to disappoint.

On Monday, I started taking a synopsis-writing class via RWA Online. On Wednesday, I completed my first class assignment: Writing a query letter. I wrote one for “Blind Date Bride” and am reasonably happy with it. I haven’t turned in my homework to get any other comments yet, though. Guess I need to get on the ball, since we just got assignment No. 2.

Of course, the time I spent on my query took time away from the WIP. I’ve only written a couple thousand words on Meg & Matt’s story in the last few days.

I guess it’s still 2,300 words more than I had a couple of days ago. I had some fun today, writing a scene where the ballplayer confronts his woman’s ex (the baby’s daddy). I enjoyed making the ex a real creep. Here’s the part where Matt sees him for the first time.

The guy was wearing an oversized cowboy hat and shiny red shirt. His lip was curled into a sneer. Matt hated him on sight. What the hell could Meg have seen in a guy like this?

His mother’s soft voice popped into his head, admonishing him not to judge the book by its cover.

Matt sighed. His mom was right. This ex of Meg’s could have a scintillating personality. He’d reserve judgment until he’d actually talked to the bozo.

Of course, talking to him doesn’t change Matt’s opinion. But it was a fun scene to write.

Sad day

E-mail was not my friend this morning.

Remember the agent who requested more of my MS a couple of weeks ago? Rejected. After careful consideration, they decided it wasn’t right for their agency.

Sounds like a pretty standard rejection, I suppose.

However, there was also an encouraging note.

A very cute concept but this didn’t feel big enough to be single-title for me. Good luck with this project.

So it would seem (though I don’t recall seeing this in their submission info) that they only represent single-title manuscripts. I’ll definitely submit the query on “Blind Date Bride” once I work it up.

Guess I’d better get busy on that, eh?

An hour later …

Not long after I finished my last post, I decided to check my gmail account one more time. I certainly wasn’t expecting what awaited me there …

… a reply from one of the agents I queried this morning!

They want to see the first 30 pages of “Operation Snag Mike/Brad.”

I was floored — and thrilled at the same time. Once my heart stopped racing (and I texted the Boyfriend with the good news), I followed the instructions to upload the pages to the literary agency’s database.

Now, I get to wait. They said it could take up to two months to review the submission. That’s about the same amount of time until Golden Heart finalists are announced.

Good thing I have other stories to keep me busy in the meantime.

Mission accomplished

Checking in again: I didn’t spent quite an hour treating writing as my day job today (Monday), but I did accomplish what I set out to do.

That’s right — I sent out two query letters. Yep. You read that correctly. Two agents now have my query for “Operation Snag Mike Brad” sitting in their e-mail inboxes. I hope one of them likes the idea enough to request the full manuscript.

With the snow falling, we cleared the paper early tonight, so I’m about to head home. Maybe I’ll get some writing done.

Wait a minute — that’s not the right attitude. I WILL get some writing done. That’s better! 😀

Very little

I got a little writing done today … very little. I’d say I wrote about a page — a far cry from the heady days of November when I was writing 2,000 words a day.

Guess I’ll look at the positive: It’s a page more than I wrote yesterday.

I’ve actually been a little lazy since finishing the first draft of “Blind Date Bride” last month. I haven’t been writing much, though I did finish my query letter … I think. I’m waiting for some feedback from my writer friends.

The problem is, I’m not sure what I want to work on now. I can’t make up my mind. I’ve dabbled with Cassie & Dustin’s story and today I wrote on Meg & Matt. I could also go back to Drew & Lainy’s story, or Bree & Mike’s.

I think, now that I’ve figured out how to print on both sides of the paper with the Boyfriend’s new printer, I’m going to print out a copy of “Blind Date Bride” so I can give it a good read-through. I didn’t want to waste 350 sheets on a first draft … even if it might be the best thing I’ve ever written.

Still struggling with that query

With the holidays looming, I took a brief hiatus from the blog. Even though I didn’t blog about a darn thing, I continued writing — or at least thinking about writing.

That’s half the battle, isn’t it? By thinking about that darn query letter, I’m getting that much closer to getting it written.

Okay, maybe not. Right now I feel like my query letter has dragged me behind the building and is pushing my face into a snowbank while it kicks my a$$. But I feel certain I’m about to turn the tables and whip that bad boy into shape.

Even though I haven’t accomplished much on my query letter yet, I did manage to get more editing done on Cassie & Dustin’s story (the second in the series that also contains my 2009 GH entry). I think the head-hopping is now a thing of the past. (Of course, so are about 5,000 more words. I think the MS now sits at about 43K … so there’s more rewriting to be done.)

It never ends, does it? I certainly hope not.

P.S.: I also spent some time putting together the newest issue of High Country Highlights, the newsletter for Northern Arizona RWA. I’m looking to zap it out to members very soon now.