More on Querying: The Race

Last night I finished some edits, sent off a partial request, sent off a few more queries because I was feeling momentarily confident in my newly-edited manuscript, when--

BAM!

Panic attack. Or at least the writer's version of a panic attack.

What if they hate it? What if I just made it worse? What if there's a huge typo in there that I missed the last fifty times I read through it? 

CALM DOWN ... with the help of an analogy (because writers LOVE analogies, if you haven't noticed):

I am a runner who has trained faithfully for a race. I'm hoping for a prize, but there are no guarantees.

I'm at the starting line, but pre-race jitters kick in. My compulsion is to turn from the starting line, run in the opposite direction. My fear: losing.

How will I know the result if I don't begin the race? I have to trust in my training, that all those hours upon hours I spent in the gym, on the track, weren't in vain. That my coaches knew what they were doing when they pushed me past myself. I know the race ahead is tough. I will be stretched. But this is what I've prepared for.

TRUST.

And GO FOR IT.

Honestly, my panic attack was very similar to my writing buddy, Krista V.'s. If you like reading about other writers freaking out, click here. She makes some very good points. I followed her advice last night and finally went to bed ... (where I had quasi-nightmares about typos and hate mail from agents. *sigh*)

WiP Wednesday: The Dark, Confusing Side of Query Land

Querying a novel can be terrifying.

I have dipped my toes into the querying waters over the last couple weeks with my YA novel, Seagull Rising. Just a few agents so far. I'm taking my sweet time.

By moving slowly I'm hoping I can avoid serious blunders.

For example:
With my last book, V-Day, I was often up late sending out six or seven queries at a time. I used the excellent querytracker.net to help me stay organized, but when it's late and you're almost cross-eyed with exhaustion, sometimes you manage to mess up with even the best tools on hand.

Apparently I sent out a query to an agent but forgot to note it. So, a few days later I sent out another query to the same agent.

A couple weeks later I received this reply (paraphrased):

Dear Ms. Sonnichsen,
I have already received a query from you on (date of first query). You have queried me twice.
Sincerely,
Agent

I did not know what to do. Honestly.

I stared at the email. This was not a rejection. All she was telling me was that I had made a mistake.

I was embarrassed, and also very confused. What should I do now?

Probably a less stupid person would have junked the letter and admitted to herself that this was obviously a hand-slap and that this particular agent was not interested in seeing anything more. Because, if she had been interested, she would have said so, right?

I chose to be more hopeful than smart, and sent her a very nice reply, apologizing profusely for the mistake and asking her to pretty-please-with-sugar-on-it still consider my query.

I never received a reply. Which shouldn't have surprised me.

And, for the record, I will not be querying that agent again, because, despite my error, I thought her response was a lame way to reject someone. (Do you agree/disagree? I'd like to know.)

So, this time I'm moving slowly, trying to send out only my best, and praying for the *right* result, whether that means representation or not.

How about you? Do you have any weird query stories to share in the comments? Or, if you're not in Query Land, any weird interactions lately?

WQI with Author Crystal Allen

Please join me in welcoming Crystal Allen, whose middle grade novel HOW LAMAR'S BAD PRANK WON A BUBBA-SIZED TROPHY debuted last month.

I had the privilege of meeting Crystal at the SCBWI conference in LA last summer. She is such a lovely person, I just knew I had to do a World's Quickest Interview (WQI) with her. 

The rules for a WQI are simple. I ask short questions and she gives me short answers. So, without further ado....

Describe your book in one sentence.  

Thirteen-Year-Old Lamar Washington always strikes out with the girls so he decides to change his image from dud to stud.

How long have you been writing? 

I've always loved to write, but it was more along the lines of rhyming poems.

Who or what inspired this book?  

This book started as a sample for a ghost-writing opportunity and blossomed into a very fun novel!

How long did it take you to write this book? 

Four years. (That includes edits from my agent!)

Besides writing, what do you like to do most? 

Hang out with my family.

If you had to be an animal, what would you be?  

A Lemur.  I like to move it-move it!

Play it safe or out on a limb?  

Out on a limb of course!  I'm a Lemur!

Are you good at math? 

No.

Tell us three things you would do in a perfect day.  

cruise, write, laugh

Any advice for aspiring writers? 

Do not listen to the little voice in your head that says "I can't."  That is not the voice of truth.

Thank you, Crystal, for taking the time to be a World's Quickest Interviewee!

Doesn't her book sound great, people? Crystal doesn't have a blog (though she does have a very cool website), so take a few moments to tell her how cool she is in the comments. I know it will make her day.

Dying Dogs & Upcoming WQI

My mother-in-law cut out the following article for me from the Tri-City Herald:

DOGS' RESCUE IN CHINA SHOWS GROWING ACTIVISM

BEIJING -- After spotting a truck packed with hundreds of whimpering dogs on a Beijing highway, a man put out a call on a microblogging site, begging fellow animal lovers to help him force the driver to release the animals.

Around 200 people responded, blockading the truck at a toll booth for 15 hours until they finally negotiated the dogs' release for $17,000, saving them from being slaughtered and served as food. Many of the animals were dehydrated, injured and suffering from a potentially deadly virus; at least 68 were hospitalized.

**
Since I come from an animal-loving family who would probably disown me, I never ate dog while living in China. Now I'm sure I never want to. Even if you can look at a dog as "just another animal to eat," why would you ever want to consume meat from a creature that could be "suffering from a potentially deadly virus"?

Can I get a YUCK-YUCK?!

That is definitely deserving of a double-YUCK. Poor dogs!

**
In more cheerful news, visit me on Monday because I'll be interviewing middle-grade author Crystal Allen in another World's Quickest Interview (WQI)! Yahoo!

And now -- have a VERY HAPPY EASTER!

He is Risen!

Ambition

Ambition is necessary to accomplishment. Without ambition to gain an end, nothing would be done. Without an ambition to excel others and to surpass one's self there would be no superior merit. To win anything, we must have the ambition to do so.

Ambition is a good servant but a bad master. So long as we control our ambition, it is good, but if there is danger of our being ruled by it, then I would say in the words of Shakespeare, "Cromwell, I charge thee, fling away ambition. By that sin fell the angels."

~Laura Ingalls Wilder,  

These Happy Golden Years

It's Thank Krista V. Day!

I have two reasons to thank my writing buddy, Krista V.

First, because she reviewed this book on her blog, which made me want to read it.

I was a little slow getting into it, and I had my doubts at first, but I stuck to Krista's recommendation and once I got into the story, I liked it a lot.

My favorite parts were the cultural exchanges between the Afghans and the Americans. I know from personal experience how easily cultural differences can get in the way of good communication. Fascinating stuff.

I also loved the theme running through the book that a curse can turn into a blessing. I don't want to spoil the book for anyone, but the main character Zulaika learns that the part of herself she hates most-- her cleft lip-- may be one of her greatest assets. At least, her disability gives her the chance to find herself outside the roles and requirements of "normal" Afghan women.

Another reason I want to thank Krista V. is because she gave me the Stylish Blogger Award. Wowzers! This award is way more stylish than I am, but thank you anyway, Krista! I haven't been good about accepting awards lately. I know I was given a few over the past year that I never got around to accepting. (Humblest apologies!) With this one I was determined to get my act together and pass it on. (My baby is three-months-old now so I'm out of excuses!)

I'd like to pass the award on to one very wonderful friend and blogging buddy, Becky from Everyday Becky. After we became blog friends, our daughters became pen pals, and it has been such a blessing to my little Olivia. I get to meet Becky and her family this summer, by the way. I'm so excited!

Here you go, Becky, you stylish blogger you!

What's Your Favorite Holiday?

Mine is Easter.

For many reasons.

I love why we celebrate Easter: "Just as Moses lifted up the snake in the desert, so the Son of Man must be lifted up, that everyone who believes in him may have eternal life." John 3: 14-15

Easter candy is my favorite, specifically Cadbury Mini Eggs.

Easter is in Spring when all the bulb flowers are pushing their way out of the earth and all the orchard trees have blossomed.

I have an excuse to buy my kids new clothes for Easter Sunday. And if I don't buy them new clothes, my sweet mother-in-law will or my sweet Aunt Sandi will make my daughters handmade, gorgeous dresses, so either way, they'll look great (at least for one day out of the year!).

I love egg hunts!

And as icing on the cake, I love that Easter is not as commercialized as Christmas. It's relaxed. Sure, there are candy and bunnies for sale, but there's not the mad rush to decorate and purchase and primp.

What's your favorite holiday?

**Photo courtesy of morgueFile.com

WiP Wednesday: Writing Like a NaNo

NaNoWriMo doesn't work for me because of timing. November is the middle of football season and since the dashingly handsome sidekick is a football coach, I morph into a single mom. (Thankfully only for a few months of the year.)

I write first drafts like a NaNoWriMo participant, however. The muse has chosen my NaNoWriMo month to be parts of April and May this time around. I had a story on my chest, and it's been sitting there grooming itself for months, leaving claw marks on my heart.

I decided to sit down the other night and start it, and WHOA ... I haven't been able to stop. I'm talking thousands of words a day and I'm not even trying.

I love this stage. It's so beautiful because you just puke your guts out on paper and you don't have to worry about whether it smells good or not. You get it all out. Then you go back later and clean up ... and the clean up is a lot more fun than mopping up real vomit, I promise.

Besides the NaNoWriMo-esque puke fest, I'm critiquing a friend's manuscript (hi, Kelly!) and slowly, fearfully approaching the querying stage with SEAGULL RISING. It's hard to believe SR won't be my WiP anymore. It really is like kissing your baby and sending her off to kindergarten. "CAN THIS REALLY BE HAPPENING? ... Maybe she's not ready ... maybe I should give her another year...."

But inside I know she's (almost) ready to fly. And she won't be able to learn if I keep her a prisoner on my computer. Right? Of course right.

So, where are you in the process? And if you're not in the process, would you like to comment on all my mixed metaphors? Which one was your favorite? (hee hee)

**Oh, and by the way, I got my purse back on Saturday! Everything was in it, too! I am SO THANKFUL! Thank you to those of you who asked about it.**

The Best of Times

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times..."

~Charles Dickens, A Tale of Two Cities

This is an amazingly versitile quote because one can apply it both to the French Revolution and to a vacation taken with five children in tow.

I wish to expound upon the latter: a vacation with five children in tow.

It was the best of times...

• I saw six bald eagles in flight over the course of our trip
• Western Washington is majestic in its beauty (Deception Pass ... *sigh*)
• We walked to the beach where our daughters ecstatically collected shells
• We rescued a washed-up sea star
• We rode on a ferry (with our car)
• There was a jacuzzi at our vacation house
• We ate clam chowder and fish & chips for dinner one night (yum)
• We met up with old friends and new ones (Hi, Vijaya!)
• I played Wii "Just Dance" for the first time
• Our kids all enjoyed themselves and we enjoyed our kids
• Sophie, our two-year-old outdoors aficionado, cried as we were leaving, "Whidbey Island, I need you!"
• Our two-month-old was a champ in her car seat (most of the time)

It was the worst of times...

• We forgot our camera at home
• The vacation house lacked a dishwasher (I have become terribly spoiled living in the U.S.)
• It rained a lot
• A woman outside the whale skeleton exhibit yelled at two of my children when they didn't deserve it
• I left my purse at a restaurant on one side of the Cascades and didn't realize it until we were on the other side
• We listened to a lot of whining and/or crying and/or fighting from the four non-baby passengers in the back seats of the minivan
• Gas is expensive
• The pass was scary with lots of snow

Tomorrow is Friday already, which means Spring Break is almost over. *sniff sniff*

How was your week?

Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech

This is what I have to say about Sharon Creech's WALK TWO MOONS:

1. The first chapter is the best first chapter I have ever read.
2. The ending was (gulp) amazing. I stood in my kitchen holding my baby, reading with tears dripping off my chin. The ending floored me. I've never been so astonished by an ending in my life. It's like Sharon Creech looked right at me and said, "Gotcha."

Here's the Amazon review:

Thirteen-year-old Salamanca Tree Hiddle's mother has disappeared. While tracing her steps on a car trip from Ohio to Idaho with her grandparents, Salamanca tells a story to pass the time about a friend named Phoebe Winterbottom whose mother vanished and who received secret messages after her disappearance. One of them read, "Don't judge a man until you have walked two moons in his moccasins." Despite her father's warning that she is "fishing in the air," Salamanca hopes to bring her home. By drawing strength from her Native American ancestry, she is able to face the truth about her mother.

**I know I've been posting a lot of book reviews lately. I guess that's what happens when you glut yourself with good books!