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Reality just got weirder. The thing Einstein didn't like because it was too creepy just got proven. He called it, "scary action at a distance." Recently, a particle was acted upon by another one 1.7 km away without anything transferred between the two. Put another way, I do something here, something is affected in China. Weird.

A lab in Australia is now creating what, in effect, is the same as the Transporter on Star Trek, where things pop out of reality and then pop back in somewhere else. All of these things are currently happening on the

Choosing your next book, movie or TV show was less of a problem when there were only 3 or 4 television stations, studios put out only 85 films a year, and publishing houses turned out, what, 1000 books a year? Now, we have hundreds of channels, literally millions of new books each year and I-don't-know-how-many movies with Amazon, Netflix and the rest throwing in. Consequently, we now have everyone telling us what to read/watch/digest next.

Folks trying to interest a literary agent must write a query letter. When I wrote my first one, I lamented that I'd spent so much time writing my novel and not one word of it would be read by an agent; my novel would be judged by my query letter alone. It didn't seem fair. When I learned that agents receive hundreds of queries each week, I came to understand why they had to lean heavily on query letters. Somehow, I thought only a small handful of people wrote novels. Hah!

Operation Awesome () runs a Pass or Pages contest in which random query letters are critiqued by a panel of literary agents. The following take-aways are from those critiques, as written on that site (not by me).

Gimmicky queries are not impressive. Just because you've never seen it done before doesn't mean an agent hasn't! They get hundreds of queries a month.

Some agents are willing to overlook a query's flaws in favor of the strength of the sample pages. Others are not. Evaluate which agents are requesting from you: Are they the ones that ask for sample pages with the query? Or the ones who ask for query only? This can help you narrow down if there is a problem with your querying materials.

It can be hard to stand out in a crowded market, such as YA contemporary. It is important to include your story's unique elements in the query letter, but to do so naturally will require that those unique elements affect the plot! That's why it is useful to write your query letter after your first draft, but before your final edit. It helps you see places where you can improve.

Dual POV can be hard to show in a query, even if it is well done in the book. Remember to show the conflict and stakes for each character, as well as how their stories come together.

"Beautiful writing" (or "purple prose," depending on your feelings toward it) can definitely add to your narration, but be selective about when you use it to maximize its effectiveness. Too much right up front can make your book seem overwritten.

Happy writing and querying!

George..

I'm not bipolar but I seem to be about my writing. One day I think I'm channeling Hemingway. The next I'm clear that what I wrote is awful. The next day, I'm sure that... and so it goes.

There's something magical when writers have a "good" writing session where everything just "comes out." And then we get to be a biased reader the next day of what "came out." I used to get completely discouraged when I discovered that I hadn't channeled Hemingway the previous day. You know--the feeling of just wanting to take your toys and go home because, well, you don't want to play that "stupid" game anymore (because it was embarrassing how badly you played)?

I expected the bipolar thing would ebb away when I continued to improve as a writer. Alas, it hasn't. Either I'm not getting better or being self critical is an inevitable part of the job. When I came to that idea, my attitude about being bipolar changed. Instead of feeling like calling it quits, I could see that "bad" writing doesn't mean I'm a "bad" author. I could see that honing a novel is, in fact, a function of letting a different day bring a different point of view to the words.

I still get excited when I have a "good" day of writing but not so upset when the next day the same words don't look so "good." Maybe my "medicine" for coping with being bipolar about my writing is allowing it to happen without judgement.

I guess I'll keep my toys in the game. How about you?

I received a novel back from my editor yesterday and I haven't been able to take my eyes off of her work. Out of 99000 words, she cut 17000. LOL! I'm accepting about 95% of her edits, which amazes me because I KNEW before I sent her the novel that it was already perfect. :-)

I'd had multiple beta readers gush over the novel. I'd worked and reworked it for many months. I'd cut and cut until I knew it was lean. And then I gave it to someone talented and she made magic happen in the chapters.

"It's all about streamlining and word efficiency," she said. I "knew" that already. But I was blind to what she was able to see. So, what it's also "all about" is having a talented editor work through your baby to give it some oomph!

People often ask me for advice around writing. As much as you love the words you write, as much as you've had folks give you their opinions, as convinced as you are about the readiness of your novel to go to print, you'll be cheating yourself and your novel if you don't get a professional edit. Ask, if you'd like to know my editor's name.

Finding Center Stage