Author R.A. Gasparac

Ok, this first post will focus more generally on the thoughts and emotions revolving about a first time query. I will go more into depth on how to put together a Query at a later time, as that is a MASSIVE post.

I started this process absolutely clueless. The closest image I can paint to this feeling is this. Imagine you are a WW2 fighter Pilot, your book is complete and partially edited by a professional ( Seriously go to Fiver.com – you can afford quality editing services there) and you are soaring high. Out of nowhere your engine fails and you are gliding the plane down safely. That’s when it occurs to you that you are above unfamiliar territory, and the tension of knowing you might be on the enemy’s land.

That’s the tension Queries give writers. It took me too long to realize that is the normal growing pains of transitioning from a hobby writer to a professional. You have to go through it. There is no simple or easy way but through the feelings.

What helped me more than anything were writers self help books about agents, and Query writing. Before I wrote the first line of my curent and first query I read over five books on the process. Learn how the publishing industry works, and why it works that way. The secret? They want to weed out the hobbyists from the professionals.

Once I got that idea through my skull, my uneasiness vanished. It was then that I wrote the first and last paragraph. Those are the easiest bits to get through – its the sales pitch of the second paragraph that I was still stalled on. For two months I let that letter sit while I figured out how I wanted to best pitch the story of my life in my head.

You will be stuck there for a little while, worrying about sales tactics and trying to find some gimmick that will enthrall the agent or publisher. It’s going to happen. That is also okay.

Then one day when you least expect it, you re read what you have and you think to yourself ‘f*ck it.’ You type some loose gibberish. I kept rewording it, and somehow I was done. This agonizing process was done. Even with all the time it took to get ONLY THREE PARAGRAPHS the way I wanted it, it needed to take that long. There is no way to rush the process, especially your first time. We are learning how to be professionals, and we have to learn how to get out of our own way.