Query Me This

A month ago, I decided to get serious about querying.  I've struggled with my query letter for years.  Along the way, I had help from my critique group, a kind-hearted published writer, a how-to pitch seminar, my husband, my daughter and at one point, I may have asked the mailman for his advice.  Writing a query is about the hardest writing I have ever done.  Finally, the hard work has paid off and I have a query with promise. 

To my family's chagrin, I'm now spending practically every waking moment on my computer. (Yeah, I mean more than usual.)  When I'm not writing, I'm scouring the internet for likely agents or doing critiques or commenting on other people's posted work.  I'm entering every contest on every blog I can find. 

It is paying off.  I won an honorable mention in the Teen Eyes Query Contest on the Miss Snark's First Victim blog.  I got great feedback and some actual interest from publishers and an agent at WriteOnCon.com.  At this moment, my query is up for critique on three different blogs. The past few weeks have showed me what I can accomplish with sustained, focused effort. I've always known this to be true but this has really made it clear. 

Getting published requires a ton of sweat and toil and a little help from your friends.

You can stop by and check out my queries on the these wonderful blogs.

Brenda Drake Writes...Under the Influence of Coffee, currently holding a Query Workshop

The Quintessentially Questionable Query Experiment, wherein writer Matt MacNish posts and critiques queries and invites his blog followers to chime in.

Unicorn Bell is running a query workshop, with a contest coming over the weekend.

The internet writing community is amazing.  Is there any other on-line community of people that is so helpful, supportive and giving of their time?  I can't imagine any.