Josh Zuckerman ~~~The Awesomest!

Throwing your babies out into the world...

There comes a time in every writer's life when they must push their little ones out into the world.
The Query.
Out there. Somewheres. Floating around.
I think you know you're in trouble when they come back with a rejection within 24 hours.
Am I that bad? Or am I hitting the wrong agents? Or is their list too full of what I'm sending.
Questions without answers. Another part of the writing process that just is and we have to accept it.
There's still some floaters out there from this last batch. Time will tell.
I've read the agent blogs where they have like 100 queries a day that they have to go through and I'm thinking...I don't think I want to be an agent.
My head would start spinning, eyes would cross and the computer would probably go flying across the room. I have to give them credit. Its a dirty job, but someone has to do it.
Just glad I'm on this side of the fence.
If you have an agent I think you should give them a hug. Maybe we should have Agent's Day like we have Mother's Day. Send flowers to your agent...or maybe an octopus.

Query vs Synopsis

Which is worse? Trying to spit out a query and convey the excitement of your book in a couple of paragraphs or taking a 280 page book down to a couple of pages? I'm attempting both right now.
The query isn't yet perfected, but I'm not sure what more to do with it. I'm going to wait till tomorrow morning when the house is quiet (I'm always up first) and I have a hot cup of coffee by my side to open it up and look again. Sometimes I look at my query and think....did I get it all in? Would a fresh pair of eyes look at this and really get the gist of what my story is about? Or am I reading something into it that isn't there?
I'm also working on my synopsis. I work on it when I need a break from query letter hell. Erica Orloff gave me some great coaching on what makes a synopsis great and I'm happy to say they have gotten easier since then. But its one of those things where I know my story so well, lets face it I've read this thing cover to cover about ten times now, sometimes I think I can't see the forest for the trees. This weekend I'm going to take my last printed draft and set it next to my puter and write two or three lines on each chapter and then try to piece it together from there. At least then I'll make sure I don't forget anything important.
Does anyone out there have a system for doing queries or synopsis? Care to share?

Just ordered...

The new Karin Slaughter book UNDONE. I can't wait to read ...er...listen to it. (Ordered book on CD so I can listen on my way to work) Her last book was great so I have high expectations.
In the last book she killed off a very important character...at least, I think the character is dead...I won't know till I get my hands on UDONE.
My question is this...You have a good series going with two main characters. Well actually one would be the supremo main but the first secondary character is sooo important that when Karin axed him I almost dropped the book. I had to go back two pages and reread everything. I was in shock, yes there it was in black and white on the page...dead semi-main, killed, kaput, gonzo.
I immediately ran to her website to send her a "I can't believe you did that!" email. But she beat me to it. There on her web was a place that explained why she did it. Smart writer.
But really, do you owe your readers anything? Or is this what makes a great writer? The ability to surprise and shock?
And keep us coming back.

CHERRY BOMB

Just finished reading Cherry Bomb by J.A.Konrath and it was a real page turner.
Bad girl Alex Kork is back with more of her twisted games to torture our hero, Jack Daniels. If you like Serial Killers, Cops and lots of action buy this book. The imagery is vivid and might keep you up at night. Konrath has a real talent for wretching emotions from the reader. This read is like a roller coaster ride of tears, fear and edge of the seat screams. His writing will paint you such a vivid picture that you can't help but keep turning the pages.

The opening of this book will answer the cliffhanger at the end of Fuzzy Navel. Thank you Joe! It was totally unexpected. Brought tears to my eyes. They didn't last long though as we were dragged into the non-stop action.

Good read! I give it five stars! *****

This man was a God

Amazing.
Bruce Lee played Ping Pong with his nunchuks. I wonder how long he had to practise to get that good in hitting the little ball with the chuks.
To liken this to writing I'd have to say it all comes down to practise. Every story we write, every novel we finish and shove under the bed to never see again is all part of the practise. If we didn't do it we'd never be able to hit the ball.

Now I'm imagining peeking under Stephen King's bed. I think it might be a little scary under there...

I may have to go dust off my nunchuks.

Draft # 5....

I'm on draft number five, no wait...four, no, it was five. Definitely draft number five. And I'm tired of reading and rereading the same old stuff. I want to move on! Its time for a new story, a new idea...but then I think I can read it once more and maybe find something else wrong in there. Maybe a missed word, misspelled word or a scene that just doesn't work so I plod along. Combing through the words I've just about memorized for any weird issues I didn't see in the last two million times I've read it. Is it ready to query? Can I improve anything before I send my baby out into the world?
How many drafts do you do? How do you know if you're done?
Is it ever really done?