Fortune Cookie Friday: Yoda on Changing it Up

 Fridays always feel like Chinese food sort of days, and what's takeout without a fortune cookie? Thus, Fridays will bring you tips, tricks, advice, and some riddles that might apply to everything but will turn a light bulb on in your head (or maybe I just like talking like Yoda).


If no mistake have you made, yet losing you are ... a different game you should play.

An argument for self-publishing, oh wise one? Or a suggestion you find yourself a new critique group?

Happy writing!

Queries: Credentials

A few of you have asked, so here's my answer.

How much do you need to tell an agent about yourself in your query letter?  The best parts.  We don't need a full bio in your query.  If you've been on the best seller list five times and are looking for a new agent, put that.  First.

But really, all the fluff, save that for your bio.  We'll probably ask for it.  The query is to get us interested.  Concentrate on that.

But the question is, how much of yourself to include?  I don't care if you've been writing since you could hold a pencil.  I don't care if you were on your high school newspaper.  BA in Creative Writing from Dartmouth?  Perhaps.  MFA?  Could be.  Leading historian on the subject your writing about?  Sure, why not.  You see the trend, these are relevant.

But honestly, I don't care.  Some agents might.  Unless you have a real solid platform, I gloss over the details.  I'm interested in your book.  If you can't sell your book, if you can't write it properly to get me interested, I won't care if you have won five Amazon awards.  It might tip me over the edge in your favor if I'm feeling generous--I do like to see something besides you've given up your entire life for your dream to be published.  Write a good query letter.

You wrote a good query letter?  Cool.  Then your credentials don't matter.  I take a chance on writers all the time.  If you can not only write a good query letter but also a full length novel without losing my interest, I don't care if English is your second language or you wrote it on napkins at a coffee house in your spare time.

That said, get as strong a platform as possible.  Work on your writing career.  Keep working on your writing.  Take classes.  Meet other authors, agents, editors.  Go to conferences.  It can only help you.  Plus, it gives us something to pad your bio with when we try selling it to the publishers.  And that's impressive.  It makes it easier on us.  And if you're super into marketing your own book, on or off line, that's even better.

That's my ramble for the day.  First and foremost, be a writer.  A good writer, if that's not asking too much.  Everything else should fall by the wayside.  (And note that these are my preferences.  Many agents do require experience.  And everyone, including myself, like to see that you are always working on your craft--it tips us off that you will be easy to work with, eager to learn, and probably won't need that much guidance.)

Happy writing.

NaNoWriMo

I first heard this term a few years ago in college.  It sounded like some made up word, I had no idea what it meant, and assumed it was an anime thing, since friends who liked anime were talking about it.  Then last year, I heard some "serious" people talking about it.  Finally, a few months ago, I gave up the pretense that I knew what they were talking about and asked.

National Novel Writing Month.  It's a month where writers set a goal and write as much as they can.  Ah, that's why lots of my friends disappeared during November during college.  Smart, by the way, having a writing month end only two weeks (in some cases one) before final exams.  Glad I hadn't known more about it earlier.

So today, we are a week away from November.  In honor, I decided to learn more about it.

Writer Musings has a great post about what it take to meet the 50,000 word goal (which I didn't know was the goal until reading this post).  To write 50,000 words in 30 days:

"That's 1600 words per day, including weekends and (American) Thanksgiving. If you can't do weekends, then you have 22 days, and need to write 2275 words per day. If you can't write on those two days for Thanksgiving, then you have 20 days, and need to write 2500 words per day."

A few months ago I was inspired to start writing.  I managed 3,000 words in I think 3 or 4 hours.  I thought, ok, I'll do it again the next day.  Didn't happen.  Sitting down and writing nearly 2,000 words a day seems impossible to me.  Crazy!!!

The experts have some good advice.  Nathan Bransford tells you what you need to have in place before the month even begins.  You need to know what you are going to write.  Why waste two or three days staring at your computer screen with no idea where to start?

Fuel Your Writing gives a brief background and insight into this hectic month.  "NaNoWriMo has grown, from a 21-person book party in 1999, to hosting over 165,000 participants just a decade later."  That's how it started?  Awesome.  Oh, the powers of the internet.

So, tell me dear readers, about your experiences with NaNoWriMo, and any advice.  For, this year, I will be participating in NaNoWriMo (more on that later this week).

Happy writing!