Alas, Alak

And the final reject of the first round of queries is in! Checking Google Maps for the closest bridge....

Just kidding!

I expected no less, to be honest. I'm not frail. I don't take this as an insult to my novel writing. In fact, if anything, this is merely an insult to my query writing. And I'm not frail about that, either. There is a delicate balance between too much info and not enough info, between telling about the book and giving enough of a taste of the book.

I don't think I've quite hit the balance yet. I thought I had, but then I read a query review (I'm thinking it was either Query Shark or the BookEnds Wednesday Workshop). Now, I've read and reread the archives on those reviews, and I've learned a lot about queries from those sites. But this more recent review sparked a thought in me. And it was similar to the thought that got me reworking the beginning (and now middle, to adjust).

The thought I had was this: I'm saying my book is action-packed, but I'm not showing that sort of energy in the query.

Of course, I'm now stuck with this thought: How do I pack action and drama and some sultry romance into a short query letter?

Practice. And a ton more rewriting.

Wes
has a little more to go before he's ready to rework his query and start the rejection process up again.