Ready To Query!

I am ready to start the query process...finally! So I thought I'd share with you the query I will be using.  Here it is:

Dear Agent,


Emily has seen her dad knock her mom around enough to know she’s better off away from her parents, especially when they’re drunk. She seeks comfort by confiding in Nicky, the boy next door, who often speaks of finding a girl who shares his faith in God. Since she doubts the God he believes in, she lets him leave for college without revealing her love for him.

With Nicky gone, each day for Emily is another day of picking up broken beer bottles. But Emily wonders if the faith that comes so easily to Nicky can fill the void caused by his absence. She’s willing to try the faith thing, but crying out to God doesn’t save her when she’s forced to the floor by a family friend and her clothes are ripped off. So much for trusting in Him. When the blood and bruises aren’t enough to convince her parents she was raped, Emily aches for the comfort and love only Nicky can provide. Telling him she was raped won’t be easy. But telling him how she feels -- about him and about God -- will be harder.


SHARDS OF GLASS is a 90,000 word YA novel. Thank you for your consideration.


Sincerely,


Name & Contact info listed here

There it is! I'll probably start sending out small batches at a time.  If I don't get any requests, I'll revise the query and send out some more.  Feel free to leave a comment with what you think.

Researching Agents

Okay, so I haven't finished my query yet, but I have received some good suggestions on it over at Absolute Write.  I will be revising over the weekend, and here's to hoping to getting it correct.

I also had a chance to go to the bookstore yesterday.  After browsing the Christian Fiction shelves and the Young Adult shelves, I think my beta was correct to indicate my story fits in more with Young Adult rather than Christian Fiction.  With that knowledge gained, I began researching agents.  For those of you who aren't familiar with the publishing process, finding the right agent isn't as easy as you might think.  We writers must do our homework.  And I mean MUST.  We have to know what genres agents represent.  Sending a query for a YA Romance to an agent who represents fantasy and sci-fi will garner an instant form rejection.  Writers: don't do this.  It also helps to know what an agent's track record is.  How many books have they represented recently? Many agents have their own websites, so it is to a writer's advantage to check that site out.  By doing so, you'll find recent titles that have sold, what that agent's tastes are, and not to mention the submission guidelines which writers also must know if they want a shot at having the agent seriously consider their query.  Did I already mention writers must do their homework? Take this seriously.

So I have started a list of agents I would like to query.  But before I can start that process, I need to get my query revised.  Here I go...

An Interesting Holiday

Happy Monday to everyone.  I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving; I certainly did.  My husband and I spent Thursday and Friday with my family, Saturday with his, and Sunday with our church family.  We had a great four days and can't really complain...except for the mouse which decided to show itself after our Bible study group left our house last night and for the possible break in we had to our garage.  And before you worry, I assure you all turned out well.  The mouse will be caught quickly (they always are), and the person who attempted to get in through our garage door was unsuccessful. 

As for writing, I didn't get a chance to work on my query.  It needs revised, terribly so I'm afraid.  Quite frankly, it has me stumped.  A few more days of thinking it over should solve the problem.  Also, my beta finished reading my manuscript and sent me his comments.  I did a quick review of them, and they are very helpful.  I can't wait to sit down and make any necessary revisions.

Hope everyone is doing well. :)