Blown Mind

Last night’s online chat with Jeffrey Moores (literary consultant and editor) over at Agent Query was mind-blowing to say the least. Seriously, it was like that Pizza Pop commercial (or is it Pizza Pockets?) and everyone was a little pizza pocket and then Jeff came along and *splat*! I will be sponging grey matter off the chat room walls all day! But it was sooo worth it.  ‘Its got more stuff’ could apply to Jeff in last night’s chat.

Here’s a taste of some of the advice he handed out to members: cut all your adverbs. Do NOT put a hook in your query letter. Yes, “AVOID THE HOOK”. And I quote.

It was a great chat with all sorts of great advice that will keep us writers thinking for days to come. If you want to check out the chat transcripts, click here. (You need to be a member. If you aren’t a member, simply sign up. No cost.)

Don’t forget, Jeff is doing a double hitter. That means another chat tonight! Don’t miss out. Join us. He’ll be critiquing 5 lucky AQ members’ work. Woo! (If you entered the ‘draw’, check out the thread on AQ to see if you ‘won’.)

Enjoy!

Agent Chat With Joshua Blimes

On Tuesday, October 7th Agent Query will be hosting another agent chat. If you are free at 8pm Mountain time (10pm Eastern), join us. I will be moderating the chat as usual and it should be an informative and great time.

Our guest will be Joshua Blimes, owner of the JABerwocky Literary Agency. Although he’s not looking for romance (or at least not between book covers), his advice will be informative for writers of all genres.

Joshua has been running his own agency for 14 years and has more years of experience int he publishing world than you could shake a stick at. He is very aware of the changes happening in the publishing world and his advice is, “You may be told, and it may even be true, that it’s harder for new authors to break into the business these days. But that can only be true to a limited extent, because everyone needs new authors, and they have to come from somewhere. Established authors stop writing or their sales decline. Some of the new authors launched a year or two ago will turn out now to work. We all need to look out for our tomorrow. But it’s never going to be easy.”

If you want to have the chance to ask an agent a question, join AQ, if you haven’t already–it’s free–and join the chat on Tuesday.

Hope to see you there!

We All Survived!: Agent Chat

I survived!

Of course I survived you say. I was only moderating an online chat with a literary agent.

It was great. And it was so high speed. I totally didn’t need that mocha beforehand. Mental note: no caffeine before chats…

Tina Wexler of ICM was great. She did a great job of succinctly answering the pile of questions launched at her for an hour by eager writers. I wish I could say that I recall the questions and replies, but honestly, I can’t. I was so busy queueing people up for their questions and trying to keep track of everything that I swear I only read enough to gather whether the question had been asked and whether the answer had been given. And even then, I screwed up a time or two.

When the transcripts are available, I will sit back and take a peek at what really went on.

With people jumping in and out of the chat, it was a challenge to keep things going and on track and make sure everyone got their chance to ask something. Some people even got to ask a second question, so all is good at the end of the day.

So how many quests did Tina have? Well, at one point, I looked up and saw that we had 33 writers logged on. Wow. I would say that it was a success and that AQ’s bid for online domination is well underway. Now if only my head would stop spinning…

Another Chat: Author Rhonda Stapleton

In order to ensure that the chat machine’s wheels are properly greased and ready to go for the agent chat next week, AQ is hosting an author chat this weekend! Yes! This weekend! I’m proud to announce that I will be moderating a chat with author Rhonda Stapleton. So join us on Agent Query Connect Sunday at 8pm Eastern. It’s free and it’s sure to be informative!

A bit about Rhonda:

Rhonda Stapleton started writing a few years ago to appease the voices in her head. She has a Master’s degree in English and a Bachelor’s degree in Creative Writing. Rhonda works as an editor for a legal publishing company and enjoys offering editing workshops. Because one writing group is never enough, she belongs to Romance Writers of America, several online and local writing chapters, and Romance Divas. Rhonda lives in Northeast Ohio with her lovely, energetic family, who are more than enough to keep her busy when she’s not writing. In the twelve minutes of free time she has each day, Rhonda enjoys reading, photography, writing poetry, singing in the shower (and in the car, at work, or basically anywhere that provides oxygen), drinking chai tea, and playing on the Internet.

Did she just say chai tea? I may have just found my new best friend! So come on down to AQ and learn about her long, arduous journey to becoming the author of the upcoming trilogy STUPID CUPID, coming out December 2009.