Unbelievably, I wrote about 60,000 words pretty easily, but then got stuck on approximately 450.
The dreaded query letter.
Yet another thing I was blissfully unaware of until I started this whole book-writing (no, you will never hear me say the word journey) process.
Let me first say Tiffiny was enormously helpful, and the tirade that’s coming is no reflection on her or her suggestions.
She sent me links to tips and structure, told me what should be included. She helped me through probably ten versions of one of the most cursed documents I have ever had the displeasure of meeting.
We got to the very end of all of those versions, and she told me I was almost done!
I didn’t recognize my book anymore.
Or me.
I HATED it.
It felt beige.
Cloudia isn’t beige, and as you may have noticed…
Neither am I.
Once again, I was very frustrated and ready to give up and send out the damned beige query. I set it aside and looked at the pitch (yet another piece of the book puzzle I didn’t know I needed) I had written a couple of days before that Tiffiny said she LOVED.
Looking at the two documents side by side, the query felt like…
Girl discovers magic.
Girl learns family secrets.
Girl must save family and town.
Or half the middle-grade fantasies on a shelf in a bookstore in anytown America.
The pitch felt more like it had a bit of humor, voice and personality.
So, I emailed Tiffiny and told her to ignore whatever version I had sent last and that I was going to add some of all that back in. I was afraid she would smack my hand and give me a stern “NO!”
Instead, she said, “I love that you’re adding personality into the query. (I haven’t looked at it yet. I wanted to address the synopsis first.) Usually, if it’s not over the top, the added voice will help a query with personality to stand out.”
Over the top?
Me?
So I redid pretty much the whole query letter, adding some of my flavor back in, sent it off to Tiffiny and worried it would be too much.
I frequently cross the line into too much territory. Too much to me is just enough. In fact, I frequently pull back my too muchness, and it’s STILL too much for other people.
I waited patiently (that’s a big old fat lie; I was impatient as hell), got it back to find a few edits but for the most part she left my voice alone.
Does she really think it will be OK to send it out, or did she just decide I was going to do me and give up trying to stop me?
I don’t know.
Will it fail miserably and I’ll have to eat crow and dial it back?
Maybe.
Am I glad that freaking thing is done?
OMG yes.
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