Back from hiatus

I'm back after disappearing for the last nine days. I've been traveling and without internet access, which, for a Gen Y type like myself, is fairly painful (What if someone new friends me on Facebook? What if I have important emails instead of my usual spam about travel deals and cooking lessons?). But I did manage to do some writing.

And, even if was not a productive week plus on the blogging/writing front, I am back in the states after a year abroad, which is good in and of itself. Man, I love California. I have had my In & Out burger (which, much as I love kebab, remains the best fast food in the whole wide world). I have seen the ocean (although it's far too cold to go in) and verified that there's still a lot of water in the world, even if I spent my last year far away from it. And best of all, of course, I can haz huzband. Sorry - I look at to many lolcats.

Update to come with excerpts and some interesting stuff from the industry front. But for now, I leave you with the extinct (but the archives are wonderful) Miss Snark's Blog. It's advice and derision from a literary agent... and also highly entertaining.

My Query Letter

So, 10 queries out to agents so far, and I've gotten back a few rejections and one request for a full, followed by a rejection (grr). Maybe it's time for yet another look at my query letter?

Dear Agent,

April Mitchell killed her father while Mom was at a PTA meeting.

Six years later April is a pathological liar, a pattern that began when she lied about assisting her terminally ill father in his suicide. April's worst lie was telling her mother that Dad died alone, something Mom never forgave. Now April lies about the most insignificant things, putting an extra gloss on her already "perfect" life, as a shiny blond medical student with a gorgeous boyfriend. But appearances may soon be destroyed, because someone found out about April's role in Daddy's death. Between blackmail threats, an estranged mother who nonetheless sometimes offers unsolicited advice or pie, an investigation for life insurance fraud, the reappearance of an old flame, and April's new sociopathic and bubbly rocker chick arch-enemy, life just got very, very messy (again). But how does April put her life back together – as more than just a lovely façade this time? SHARDS OF GLASS (127,000 words) is commercial fiction with intelligence and quirk. This is a novel for the woman whose bookshelf contains both Jane Austen and Clive Cussler.

I have been previously published in Cicada and Windhover.

Thank you for your time and consideration,

Sincerely,

Guinevere

Well? If you were a saavy New York literary agent, would you be interested in representing it?