So last night I arrived back to Atlanta after attending the fabulous Big Sur Children’s Writing Workshop. Unlike a conference, this is more of a workshop intensive --- designed for writers who have manuscripts ready for critiquing, revising, and editorial guidance. It's sponsored by the Andrea Brown Literary Agency and also includes other published authors and editors to assist writers during the weekend with critiques and panels. There is also a private session with an editor, agent, or … [Read more...]
The Query Letter Itch
October 11, 2010 Read Comments
I have a confession to make: Query letters makes me itch. Not in a bad rash kind of way but in a compulsive manner. I love dissecting my query letters and how to make them better. It is a necessary evil for a writer on her journey to publication. But sometimes we start on them too early and worse case, we may even start to query before our novel is done well. I find myself obsessing about my query letter when I'm entering a contest or applying to a writer's workshop. I put "How to … [Read more...]
2010 FL SCBWI: Query Letters
June 9, 2010 Read Comments
I'm continuing my highlights from the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop and Intensives. Today I'm going to share what I learned from the editors and authors about query letters and how to construct one that is compelling and can result in a request for full or partial manuscript. The following notes are from the Novel Intensive with senior editor Alvina Ling (Little, Brown), Editorial Director Stephanie Owens (Disney-Hyperion), and author Kathleen Duey and the YA Track Workshop with editor … [Read more...]
Query Letter Slayer
June 2, 2010 Read Comments
I'm not quite sure that I can slay query letters, but I did work on one this past weekend in preparation for the 2010 SCBWI Florida Mid-Year Workshop. I wrote a query letter for my first novel, a middle-grade ghost story. After some tweaking, I started to get requests for partials, fulls, and ultimately an agent offer. I'm sort of glad that I'm now working on a query letter for my YA paranormal because when I'm done I will need one for my new agent search. I hope to get some good feedback … [Read more...]
