tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802601138878132017.post500016214279352608..comments2024-03-22T03:27:19.859-04:00Comments on Sourcebooks Casablanca Romance Authors: Queries (and Pitches and Blurbs) -- OH MY!Anonymoushttp://www.blogger.com/profile/12914920560584429315noreply@blogger.comBlogger5125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802601138878132017.post-34942964065790243922009-01-25T22:12:00.000-05:002009-01-25T22:12:00.000-05:00Ahhh, the art of the query! What a painful part of...Ahhh, the art of the query! What a painful part of the writing journey, but once mastered make all the difference. Thanks for sharing yours, AC! Here's the query for LOS (I think I'd write it differently today):<BR/><BR/>Susannah Sanderson is ready for some peace. After a tumultuous decade as the wife of one of the NFL’s marquee players, she’s just ten days from her divorce being final and a month from marrying her high school boyfriend. Her life is right where it should have been all along. She’s entertaining her fiancé and his parents when she hears some commotion in her front hall. Excusing herself, she scurries into the foyer to find her soon-to-be ex-husband, Ryan. So begins “Line of Scrimmage,” an 86,000-word sexy contemporary romance. <BR/><BR/>“What do you want?” she asks, to which Ryan replies, “In a word? You.” She can’t believe his audacity, but she’s in for a surprise when he adds, “We’ve got ten more days as Mr. and Mrs., and we’re going to spend every one of them together.” When she protests, he threatens to delay the divorce if she doesn’t cede to his wishes. “In light of your engagement,” he drawls, “I’m thinking that might be a little inconvenient for you, darlin’.” Susannah is furious, and her fiancé is ballistic, but Ryan won’t budge. Desperate to stop a divorce he doesn’t want, Ryan, who’s been badly injured in the last game of his career, mounts the Hail Mary play of a lifetime over the next ten days. They talk, they fight, they laugh, they cry, and then they fight some more. But little by little, they right some of the terrible wrongs that drove them apart in the first place, and Susannah begins to wonder if she’s made a terrible mistake.<BR/><BR/>“Line of Scrimmage” is a story of reunion, redemption, rejuvenation, and renewal. In the tradition of LaVyrle Spencer, Susan Elizabeth Phillips, and Catherine Anderson, readers will laugh and cry and hope—that at the end of the day, these two lovers, who clearly belong together, will somehow find their way back to one another. <BR/><BR/>For the last twenty years, I’ve worked as a professional editor and writer, including a two-year stint as a newspaper reporter. I’ve been the communications director for a national nonprofit for the last eleven years. I am a member of the Romance Writers of America. I have been married for fourteen years, ten of them as a Navy wife. We brought a daughter and two dogs home from Spain in 1995. A son joined the family in 1998.Marie Forcehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00550719567520289405noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802601138878132017.post-65086028840374371682009-01-25T14:23:00.000-05:002009-01-25T14:23:00.000-05:00Cheryl,Glad I'm not the only one who can't remembe...Cheryl,<BR/>Glad I'm not the only one who can't remember what I name files! I do tend to use the initial of the working title at the start of the name, but that still means dozens of files to look through. Took me about 10 mins. to find this particular version of the query letter.<BR/><BR/>But I totally agree! Why re-invent the wheel?<BR/><BR/>ACLoucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02217492654108300014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802601138878132017.post-7240366958755586762009-01-25T14:18:00.000-05:002009-01-25T14:18:00.000-05:00Hey MM, Glad you are also into "recycling!" :-)And...Hey MM, <BR/>Glad you are also into "recycling!" :-)<BR/><BR/>And sometimes my queries are agony and sometimes they aren't. The longer I've been working with a story line and characters, the easier it seems to get.<BR/><BR/>ACLoucinda McGary aka Aunty Cindyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02217492654108300014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802601138878132017.post-26822499690282228132009-01-25T09:55:00.000-05:002009-01-25T09:55:00.000-05:00Hi Cindy!I agree that it's good to have these thin...Hi Cindy!<BR/>I agree that it's good to have these things to recycle. MUCH easier to copy and paste than to write it all over again! I wrote one for Rogue not long ago that I plan to use as a template for blogs, etc.<BR/>I don't delete much either, MM. It took me a while to remember what I'd called it, but I found the query letter for Slave, still in my computer, right where I left it two years ago.Cheryl Brookshttps://www.blogger.com/profile/11464377381132807409noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2802601138878132017.post-69068296716170259892009-01-25T08:31:00.000-05:002009-01-25T08:31:00.000-05:00I agree: queries are agony to write, but can be in...I agree: queries are agony to write, but can be infinitely recycled.<BR/><BR/>I never delete a draft of a query--even the false starts of no more than a sentence or two. You never know where you'll find just the three words you need to sum up a character or a conflict.Mary Margrethttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04777940150169201630noreply@blogger.com