What a fantastic movie. I was only halfway through the book when we saw it last night, but I was very pleased. The soundtrack was reminiscent of a 90s horror movie and the cinematography was different. Blah blah all of that though. It was just a good film. BUT. Of course, I have absolute qualms with certain things about Mrs. Meyer's vampires. No fangs? What?! Sparkling sunlight? Get out... And her vampires never sleep. Never. Ever. See, that's just sad. Give 'em coffins or something, because what is worth living if you can't reset? You'd go mad! And this is sad, because I never connected with Edward Cullen after this. He was above even vampire at this point, and he lost all human qualities - which he had a few up til this point. So I shuddered a little cringe when Bella expels the word "Vampire!" Yet I do want to see it again. I was suprised that it was honestly fairly accurate. And for sure I'm finishing the book. I'm looking forward to the Twilig...

I wanted to list my query here, and see what you think. I have a few versions of the letter depending on the requirements of the agent. Here is one such letter: Thank you for taking time to consider me for representation. I've read your guest-blog post today, and after reading your information and client list at Publisher's Marketplace, I wanted to contact you regarding my first novel THE UNIQUE DESTRUCTION OF AN ORDINARY SOUL (contemporary fantasy; approximately 130,000 words). If I may, a brief synopsis: Evander is an average young man looking for love and adventure in Baltimore. One lightning-wrought night he finds adventure and so much more when he meets the woman of his dreams, and quickly becomes an honest-to-god, blood-sucking vampire, as our protagonist puts it. And when a master vampire goes too far in persuading the new vampire to live under his House, Evander quickly begins to lose loved ones in a battle that eventually consumes the entire city, while the world head...

I hope this isn't a sign of things to come, especially with the holliday season upon us, but I haven't written AT ALL lately. Granted, I'm at the end of the semester too, but things have been just a bit ragged. The workspace I was planning has hit a snag and I'm stuck with only materials and no room to re-energize. And with the rejection letters coming in I am really not in the creative mood. That's really unfortunate. Like the recession, I seemed to have just slipped into a depression without even realizing it. I sit in front of the tube and flip, flip, flip away. I've become a freakin ZOMBIE!! Hell, I've forgotten what my gym looks like. This just emphasizes for me that I can not afford to have a television in my writing space when it's all said and done. The damn thing is pure distraction that I don't want to tolerate any more. And maybe I should give myself some space. From writing, that is. Perhaps it will be good for me. Or maybe this is just t...

So I got a letter from JABberwocky today - it's my SASE envelope - and see that it's, of course, a rejection letter. I'll just add that to the Pile. Thanks for the opportunity, JAB! So now I'm scratching my head and thinking there can't be that many more agents out there left... Self-publishing is starting to sound mighty possible. Back to the query letter, I guess. I let this RL bother me for about 15 minutes. That's it, now I'm good again.

Another query emailed, this time to Ginger Clark at the prestigious Curtis Brown literary agency. Upon reading Ginger's page at Publisher's Marketplace, I figured she could empathize with my novel, considering her client list being profoundly Science Fiction/fantasy.

Is it ever too early to market your book? This question is retroactive to pre-publishing, too. I know very little about marketing. In fact, I guess I know nothing at all. My plan has always been, from the beginning, to get my story out there . To have people read it - that's the point to all of this. That's why this blog exists. And yet now I find myself searching for new, constructive ways to market this book. So far, I've been searching for an artist for the cover. I have it completely planned out, but I could screw up a stick figure, so I'll leave this to the pros. I'm wondering if it's too soon to design a website. Would a website even work for an unpublished work? I don't know. These are things I am looking into to help market my first novel. I've never had much use for an ego, but is self-promotion really egotistical? Or will it only hasten my prospect for publishing? Hmm.

I'm taking fellow blogger Annie Wicking's advice, and going through UNIQUE chapter by chapter. The more I think about it, the more I want to clean up the story. I want to make sure the plot is not stale, and the characters are not just fodder. My goal tonight is to shave ten thousand words, and bring the count down to about 130,000. Originally, I was shooting for 180,000 words. Wow was I way off. That would have just been too drawn out. So now the outline begins, where I will highlight the main issues in each chapter, and recycle the unnecessary paragraphs. One thing I have to mention is that reading - especially in your genre - is so very important. There have been quite a few revelations with certain books I have been reading lately, and I am beginning (after six years) to see what a good story is all about. So thanks for the advice, Annie. I have some direction now while I wait for the mail.