Limbo

I may be in a writer's state of limbo for awhile. Waiting for a yes, but expecting a no. From everything you hear as an upcoming writer,it's hard to break into the industry, so you should expect lots of rejection. I'm fine with that. I'm just looking for a new story to write on for now. I'm going to go back over some of my old writings, see if I can edit them up into something for a magazine. I've got one poem, Portrait of a Raven, I think is worthy of publication. I'm going to shoot that one at the Cutbank later on this year, so I'm just waiting on that one -- limbo. Any way, it's a rainy day, so little housework and lots of time to do what I wish. So, keep on keepin' on.

Letter Sent!

I sent the letter! It's the first, and we'll just see. I hear there's lots of rejection in the publishing industry, but I've done my best. I spent more time with the letter last night, my spouse looked it over again, and I read it a couple more times today, and just a few short moments ago, I sent it. The agency accepts queries by email, so I sent it that way. I'm a big fan of saving trees, but then again, there's the whole paradox about a writer wanting to save trees. :) So, now I must wait about three weeks for a response.

Querying still...

I've been working on the query letter still. Read through it twenty times or more making changes. Sent it to my wife again, she gave suggestions. I took all of them, and can't find anything now. I sent it back to her just a second ago, but probably won't look at it again until tomorrow. Seriously, if you're trying to get published, you'll spend more energy on the query letter than any one page of your entire manuscript, yet, it is the first thing that lands on an agent or editor's desk, so you have to make it great!

Query Letter, hard edit

So many months ago I wrote a query letter for an agency, which I thought to be really good. I looked at it today, read it, and to me, it seemed O.K., not great, and I figured from reading it that it was probably a little unclear as to what the book was about. I wrote in a bunch of stuff that kept the reader guessing, which is good in a story, but not so good in a business letter. I think I was being too creative in the letter, in hopes that my writing style would come through, but looking back, it's all about the brevity of the story, and the story should speak for itself. I had my wife look it over, and she's a wonderful critic and editor. She pointed out all the crap and confusing parts of the letter. I cleaned it up, showed it to her again, and again she pointed out the crap in the letter, a little less the second time. I cleaned it up a third time and then . . . put it away and took a break. I'm going to go back to it again here very soon, clean it up again before I show it to her for a third time. I can't thank her enough for her help. So that's what's in the workings.

Petrified Birds Sing Petrified Songs

Jim Bridger told many tall tales, like of the petrified forests, where you can find petrified animals and as the title states, petrified birds singing petrified songs. Any way, here in the photo are two petrified tress. It's quite the short and strenuous hike to get to them, but oh, is it worth it. Not only are there these two standing, but there's a third behind it, and all along the hike there're stumps and such. There's much to be said about Yellowstone's petrified forests, but I'll leave that to science. I just like the stories and the pictorial wonder of it all.

From Drop Box

Not Much

I'll let you in on something, sometimes I'm not that creative. Sometimes I don't like to write, and sometimes I'd like to but there just isn't time. I don't consider myself a full-time writer. I consider it more of a hobby, something I like to do that I'd like to share with people one day. Yesterday, I had chores and a wonderful evening watch Montana Shakespeare Company perform Private Lives at Tizer Gardens, which was seriously an amazing play with a professional cast -- really lucky to have such a fine company so close to home. Today, I had more chores, I'm painting my house, working on writing an essay for a grad school class, and then I'm going out with friends for a burrito and to watch the film Food Inc. at the Myrna Loy. I find that reading and doing other cultural things really helps with writing -- I look for new ideas, new scenes, new characters, new little idioms to put into writing, of which, I write down for later. Any way, I said I'd write about the down times too, which is all a part of it. Hope you all have a lovely day!

Mt. Everts and other pretty things

In this photo is Cathedral Rock in the foreground, midway is Mt. Everts (for the supposed but incorrect location where Truman Everts was found.), and behind that are the Beartooth Mountains.

From Drop Box