I
wasn’t going to say anything about my query letter in this post, because I’m
aware that I was starting to sound
completely unhinged. But…I had a breakthrough, folks! After working on it for
literally eight hours yesterday, it finally clicked. I just “got it”—I have the
hook, I have the right tone, and I think I finally have a viable query.
I realized that I had been leaving out a key piece—the precipitating event that
causes my main character’s crisis. I was starting the letter in the wrong
place; being overly focused on the sequence of the plot, rather than spark that
starts the fire. I sent an inquiry to an agent this afternoon, and I felt good
about it. There are many, many more to send, but I feel like I’m in a much
stronger position now to get a bite.
I’ve been getting frustrated with
my punch rug hobby because I’m having a hard time creating finer patterns. Brimming
with confidence due to my pillow success of last week, I got the bright idea that
I could learn embroidery. I, who can barely sew a seam and have no patience even
for that, managed to briefly delude myself that embroidery would be a great
craft for me. And it’s all because I watched this really captivating video that
made it look so simple and beautiful. I want to be the kind of person who can do
embroidery. But I’ve also resolved to stop making aspirational purchases that
will sit gathering dust for years. (Like my bike.) However, it turns out there is such a thing as an embroidery punch
needle! Which solves both of my problems. I nipped over to Joanne’s today to
look for one, but they didn’t have any. Undaunted, I bought some embroidery
thread anyway, and tried to use my yarn needle with it. It looked hopeful for a
minute, but then it all went to hell. So it’s back to yarn until I can get my
hands on an embroidery punch needle. (Thrilling stuff, I know.)
I don’t have anything else to
add because nothing happened this week. I worked, came home, ate dinner, and
went to bed. I’m starting to feel like my life is very much like Norman’s. If I
really stretch, I could say that I Feng Shuied my office thanks to the help of
my friend, ate a high-concept burger at one of those over-achieving hipster restaurants,
(it wasn’t great), and had a weird dream about a Victorian-era vampire. (The
scary kind, not the sexy kind.) Gah, sorry I am so unutterably dull this week.
Here, have a video. Lois CK is my go-to when I run out of ideas.
--Kristen McHenry
1 comment:
Congratulations on your query letter! It does seem to be the essence of writing that if you just work on it long enough, you will succeed. Getting good at writing isn't so much about the writing but about the ability to spot good writing -- to know when what you have works. I, of course, and now stuck in the world of, "Good enough!" It's been a while since I've worked on anything that I've been able to really polish. I need to find something. I think my soul is dissipating.
I just bought a balloon animal kit. I've long wanted to do that. Part of it is that I like the idea of ephemeral gifts. "Here is a giraffe that will die within days if not seconds. Love it with all your heart!" But the punch needle you talked about is really interesting. When you are learning something, there are usually these things that are really hard to do and of course the past masters have solved the problems for you. That's what I've already found with balloon animals. There are tricks. This is what makes humans such amazing animals: our ability to pass on our discoveries.
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