Sowen Sample Query

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, please remember to turn your cell phones on when you leave.So this is perhaps the fifth version of my query letter. I just put in the meat of the query. So let me know, dear reader, does it sound OK? Would you shell out your hard earned money to read it? Me neither!Halloween: It’s a day for trick-or-treating, for costume parties, and for all things ghastly. For Christopher...

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Query Letters & Blowtorches

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, just when you thought the day couldn't get any worse--ta-da!-- I appear like a ninja. So I'm up to my elbows in work--bill paying work and non-paying writing.  The later, of course, being the important one. I'm still reading agent queries, studying them as if they were the Dead Sea scrolls, trying to find that one piece, that nugget of information that will provide me...

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BEA/Writer's Digest Writers Conference

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, it hurts to be dead. I can feel myself rot ...I've decided to attend the BookExpo America Writer's Digest Books Writers Conference at the Javits Center in NYC on May, 27th. Besides the numerous workshops, the conference boasts what is called an Agent Pitch Slam, which is nothing more than speed dating for writers. You get a few minutes to pitch your book to as many agents...

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I gotcher bunnies right here, buddy

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, Happy Easter ... oh, right, that was last week ...I spent Easter in NYC with my family. A wonderful day, sunny, bit of a chill, and a whole lot of people wearing crazy hats like this one:And this one, which I must say is a far better use of Metro Cards ...But if crazy hats isn't your thing, hey, this is New York, where there's a little sumpin' for everyone. You want bunnies....

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Under the Talisman

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, the man in black fled across the desert, and we all followed ... ever since. Yeah, that's right, dear reader, I'm talking about Stephen King. I remember hearing from time to time about this novel he was working on that was, alas, never to be completed, much the same way I thought the Dark Tower series would never be completed. I love being wrong (which is usually the case)...

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The Flowers

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, ahh, spring is here ...And to honor the season, I'd like to share a short piece called-- yup, you guessed it-- The Flowers. One of the most powerful short pieces I've ever read is Alice Walker's The Flowers. This is a retelling of Alice Walker's classic story. When ten-year-old Maya's romp through her safe neighborhood takes her on a journey to an old deli, Maya discovers...

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More on Sowen

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, today is National Stalker Day, so go out there and stalk your favorite celebrity. And remember, dear reader: Fan is only four letters away from FANatic!*I've been working on Sowen, and I'm halfway through another revision. I thought I'd give a little snippet ...The other children gathered, too, grabbing his legs, pulling out hair, ripping fingers from the sockets and sucking...

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My Car Stereo Is Possessed

My car stereo is possessed. Somewhere inside the diodes and resistors is the soul of an audiobook critic, who, for the past few months, has had no problem vomiting up a CD with extreme prejudice. This morning, my esteemed spectral companion would not let me listen to JCO's Freaky Green Eyes after the opening attempted rape scene, which disappointed me immensely, because I was just starting to get in touch with my inner teenage female. He did,...

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Happy April Fools' Day

Ladies and gentlemen, boys and girls, animals both domesticated and wild, Happy April Fools' Day. May all of your pranks be clever and of the lowest quality.Today is one of those days, at least for me, that will easily be erased from memory. It's a Nothing Day where everything moves as expected, even the weather: it's not too warm or too cold; there's the threat of rain, at best. Who knows, maybe that's how a proper April Fools' Day is supposed...

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