Echoes in a Hollow Space

She voices what I’ve long said: there’s no such thing as a perfect query, although people drive themselves crazy searching for the magic formula. However, she did give tips on what makes queries effective.

Jodi Meadows also has a running series on this subject on her blog.

Mirrored from Better Than Dead.

One begins to suspect that one cannot just rewrite two and a half chapters, as one hoped, because in changing one's worldbuilding it sends ripples out through the rest of one's manuscript. One remains hopeful that after the major change in the two and a half chapters in question, one might be able to get away with minor changes in the final third of the book. But, regardless, one had better get one's arse in gear since the ms. has already been sent out on queries.

Sure glad I don't have that problem.

Quote of the day:

"You never learn to write a novel. You just learn how to write the novel that you're writing."

—Gene Wolf (quoted by Neil Gaiman)


Oh, shut up.

These things come out of the random quote file at random—hence, the name. But it's amazing how synchronous they can be sometimes. I hate being bitch slapped by the Universe.

Corporate attitude of the day:

Perky corporate booster: Hi! Can I hang this flyer for the third floor unwinder over your quote of the day?"

Me: Over the quote of the day? What a concept. No.

Perky: Oh, okay. Well, be sure to join us for socializing and pizza!

Me: Uh-huh.

Concerned Neighbor as Perky scampers off: She wanted to post that over the quote of the day?? What was she thinking??

[Please note: I had not yet had my coffee.]

Crankiness of the day:

Every time I do intensive agent research, like I have been for the last couple of weeks, my mood gets progressively worse. This cumulative badtudinage starts to effect the muse, choking him to unconsciousness. When he reaches a state of moribund repose, I know it's time to ignore the agents again and return to blissful ignorance.

I managed to get four queries out before choking this time.

And I don't need any help dragging my feet over the boffo conclusion to Night Warrior/Born to Darkness/A Title to be Named Later. At least twice in the last week I took my usual writing time to lock myself into an empty office and stare at the wall, thinking about anything but.

I'm something of a fan of staring at the wall and thinking. Solitude and reflection are good things. Filling up every moment with items from one's To Do list or entertainment or chat leads to a high noise ratio in the ol' soully woully, I think. Quiet, contemplation, reaching inward...yeah, quality of life time we should all indulge in to refresh the spirit and replenish the imagination.

But I got things to do, damn it! I can't afford to sit around on my ass during writing time drawlin' and a lollygaggin'! So irritating.

In other news:

I did have a fine time last night with the girls, however, watching Charlie and the Chocolate Factory again and swilling wine. (Sangre de Toro, with a cute little bull charm hanging off the label. Hey, toro!) I even cooked—made my pasta with chicken, white wine, and artichoke hearts.