I bemoaned my query/manuscript woes yesterday, and you guys were great about putting up with me. Thank you all for letting me vent, but enough of the whining. It’s time to put on my big girl panties and stop being so hard on myself.

I wrote a book. Then I shelved it and wrote another. And in the process of writing that book, I found myself. I finally knew what I wanted to be when a grew up and realized that just maybe, I had a shot at pulling it off. More importantly, I found an incredible group of people who know exactly what I’m going through. They don’t think I’m neurotic for obsessing over a single line for an hour..or three. They don’t bat an eye when I say I’ve written YET ANOTHER query hook, and I’m sure this is the one. Instead, they stick out their virtual hands and read the damn thing. And when I post about all my silly writing issues, they don’t ignore me or tell me to suck it up. My writing friends give me a virtual hug and a gentle kick in the butt.

Thank you.

What else am I thankful for? Glad you asked!

1. My health. I lost 65 pounds this year and have maintained it. I spend a lot of time kicking myself for not losing ten more or doing yoga regularly, but not today. I’m proud and incredibly grateful for dropping the weight. My life has changed for the better in ways Fat Stacy couldn’t have imagined.

2. My brother. Most of you know one of my brothers has terminal cancer. We don’t know how much time he’s got left, but it’s not much. I’m so thankful for the time I got to spend with him a few weeks ago. It makes the loss just a little easier to take.

3. My wonderful daughter. She’s a precocious, intelligent, outgoing, and sometimes mouthy five(almost six)year-old, and she’s changed my life for the better, x100.

4. My amazing husband. Most of my family and friends thought we wouldn’t last, but we’ll be married thirteen years in May.

5. Chocolate. Let’s face it: the stuff should be one of the seven wonders of the world.

6. Jersey Shore. Because there’s always someone to point and laugh at.

7. Health Insurance. Even if my premiums are going up, I’m grateful my husband has a job that provides great medical, dental, and vision insurance. Don’t take that for granted!

8. Moisturizer. Every girl over 30 MUST own some. I recommend SkinCeuticals.

9. The sexy pair of boots I just bought. They hurt like hell, but they look good!

10, A warm home, food in my belly, a decent car to drive, money in my bank account.

What are you thankful for this year? How has the online writing community helped your writing?

I had a great trip and got a lot accomplished. My friend (who is a writing/reading prof and a writer herself) and I spent a lot of time on the synopsis for INTO THE DARK. We cleaned up the prose quite a bit and reworded it so it read more like a suspense novel, because that’s what the book is. The romance is a strong part of the book, but it’s driven by the suspense/conflict. Combing through the synopsis helped me to uncover three plot issues that were minor but made the book less believable. I fixed those, and then we came up with a great query. We used part of what I had, but the new query again focuses on the suspense instead of making the book sound like it’s all romance. I’m really excited about what we accomplished!

Goals for Sunday check-in
*Get Thriller Thursday written
*Get two page synopsis down to 3-5 paragraphs
*Get full MS ready to submit to e-publishers
*Write 500 words on THE PROPHET

How are your Row80 goals coming along? Has the upcoming holiday messed up your writing time?

Wouldn’t it be awesome if it were as easy as grabbing the old Magic-8 ball and giving it a shake? If we don’t like the answer, we can just rattle the sucker until it gives us what we want.

Writing queries is as painful as pulling out nose hairs. And just as repetitive. My proofer worked hard and came up with a good query, but something in my gut told me it wasn’t quite right. Yes, the hook mentioned the Las Vegas tunnels, one of the really interesting points in INTO THE DARK. But it didn’t tell the reader anything about the main character or what she does to resolve the conflict.

So I went back to the drawing board, and I’ve spend the last THREE days writing and rewriting, then writing some more. I’ve written so many hooks they’re running through my head in my sleep. If you don’t believe me, ask Catie Rhodes. She’s read every one. I’d be lost without her.

Finally, FINALLY, I think I have it. The hook is interesting and does everything a query is supposed to do. It’s good, but is it good enough? The worst part about this whole process is that the only way to really know is to get the letter out there. And what if it sucks? Have I burned bridges with INTO THE DARK? I don’t know, but I can’t keep spinning in circles and loosing sleep over the bleepity-bleep.

The two people I trust the most with my writing (and I include brutal honesty in that statement) have endorsed the query, so I’m going to take the plunge in the next week and send it out to five agent and/or editors who accept queries only. My hope is that if I hear nothing, it means the query is no good, and I can start over. We’ll see how it goes. All I know is that I’ve done everything I possibly can, and it’s time to put myself out there.

Those closest to me didn’t miss the timing of my sudden query frenzy: it’s all come about since I got the news of my brother’s impending death. I didn’t have a clue until my friends pointed it out, but they’re right. The only way I knew how to cope was to throw myself into work, and then suddenly the clock started ticking. Life’s so damn short, and I could be gone tomorrow. I’ve got to move forward. So I’m dipping a toe or to into the query pool. Hopefully the experience isn’t too excruciating.

I want to thank you all for your kind words about Jeff. It’s amazing how much the support of people I’ve never “met” can have such a positive effect.

As for my Row80 goals, the query and editing INTO THE DARK for the last time (for now) is all I’ve done this week. My goals for Wednesday’s check in are:

* Finish the INTO THE DARK edit.
* Work on cutting my four page synopsis for INTO THE DARK down to one.
* Dive back into THE PROPHET and write at least 1000 words.
* Get the next Thriller Thursday written.

Again, thank you all for your support, and I hope you’ve had a great week. To all those rocking and rolling in NaNo, keep up the great work. I’ve seen some awesome word counts on Twitter.

How was your Row80 week? Do you have any tips for the dreaded query process?

Happy mid-week check in! I just paid all my bills and transferred some to the savings account. That alone is cause for celebration around here.

Don’t forget to check out Thriller Thursday tomorrow. I’m interviewing New York Times Best Selling Author Allison Brennan. She talks about her writing process as well as the changes in the publishing industry, and I’m really excited to share the interview with you.

This week has been productive in a different way for me. Ever since my good friend Donna Galanti (who’s enjoying vacation at Disney right now!) signed with Echelon, I’ve been doing a lot of research on digital publishing and smaller presses. At this point, I’m not ready for self-publishing, but there is A LOT of appeal to publish with one of the e-publishers like Echelon, Carina, or Wild Rose. The royalties are much higher, they’re author friendly, provide cover art and editing, as well as marketing help. No, you don’t get as high of a royalty as you do on Amazon, but when you consider these publishers ebooks sell for a few dollars more and they’re providing services a self-publisher has to look to out of pocket, it evens out at the least. In case you missed it, James Scott Bell spoke about the digital publishing trend here and basically reaffirmed my thinking.

You still have to query, your book still has to be great, and that appeals to me as well. I want the feedback and the chance at getting my work edited. Of course, I want the affirmation, just as we all do.

I’m not saying agents are going the way of the dinosaur. I don’t think that’s the case with the good agents. They’ll evolve, and I’m certainly still going to query them. I want the experience and hopefully the feedback. But after speaking with Donna, my critique partner and good friend Catie Rhodes, and TJ Proofs, a great lady with industry knowledge and an eye for proofing, I’m going to be focusing on the e-publishers. To make that decision is monumental for me.

So I’ve spent the last few days researching, creating my spreadsheet of publishers and agents I want to query, and fine tuning the novel. Not a lot of writing done, but important tasks.

I’m heading out of town this afternoon to visit family in Indianapolis, so the rest of the week will be a bit of a wash. That’s all right, though. Family comes first.

What about you? How’s your week been? What are your thoughts on e-publishers verses agents/Big Six?