How to Write a Good Query...Hopefully

After my last post, I was feeling pretty damn smug.

That thing about the high iron gates was mad deep, I thought. Now they'll totally be at ease because they'll know I'm that cool literary agent who's been there.

To which you might respond, "Right."

Because it's easy to be all tranquil and Zen and whatnot when you're the guy judging the queries. It's a whole different situation when you're the one waiting for judgement to be passed.

But oh, how the tables have turned. Now I'm the one behind the query. And boy am I scared.

Most uninitiated people (and I'm sure that includes none of us) tend to conflate agents and editors, which is why I have to routinely explain to my family and friends that I don't actually publish books. Someone else does that. If I can convince them to. Oh, and if I fail then I won't get paid and I'll wind up living up in a cardboard box.

There's a beautiful sort of poetic justice there; literary agents critique others for a living but have to pass muster themselves if they want to eat something other than Ramen noodles for the next six months. Even the most prestigious of us--and I definitely don't fall into that category--is reduced at routine intervals to repeatedly refreshing his inbox and agonizing over whether his query letter was rendered too cheeky by the use of the word "smorgasbord."

Sound familiar?

Seeing as that's where I am right now I figured now would be as good a time as any to review effective query letter writing. For, as my crazy Welshman father would say, "Presentation is half the battle."

He, of course, was referring to veal parmesan, scallops, and brussel sprouts--which need a hell of a lot of presentation to be palatable to anyone--but the principle still holds. You can have the best manuscript in the world, but if you can't market it effectively it's more than likely to go unread.

So how does one write an effective query? I really hope I know this, because I'm sending two of them out and will soon be the laughingstock of the entire publishing industry if I get it wrong.

The general formula is the Hook, Bait, and Switch. The Hook draws a reader's attention, the Bait provides them the meat of the story to sink their teeth into, and the Switch wraps things up with some very basic information about the author. This arrangement works well across genres but should, obviously, be tailored to fit manuscripts' individual style.

Let's discuss the clients whose work I'm submitting. Gerry Dodge and S.E. Smith are both phenomenal writers and I'm enthusiastic about both of their projects. S.E.'s book, however, is a zany YA tome that had me laughing out loud while Gerry's is a piece of serious literary fiction that, I kid you not, was still making me cry the fifth time I read it.

We'll start with Gerry's novel, Beneath the Weight of Sadness. It's the kind of story you will never forget reading. I believe, at the risk of sounding unbearably corny, that it has the makings of an American classic. The query for it was more difficult to write, though, because its complex message is not as easily encapsulated as a more lighthearted manuscript's might be.

Hook: Nothing prepares you for the loss of a child. Nothing.

Any parent would agree with that. The first sentence is immediate and visceral.

Bait: And when Ethan Engroff’s gay seventeen-year-old son Truman is savagely beaten to death by an unknown assailant, the murder is just the beginning of a long and painful odyssey. As Ethan’s wife Amy drifts further from reality, Ethan must face difficult truths about his marriage, his shortcomings as a father, and who his son really was—and could have been.

Beneath the Weight of Sadness is a heartrending story about a marriage shattered by grief, a town haunted by hate, and how one unlived life can touch countless others. 

This provides a glimpse into what the story is about but, notably, is not a synopsis. Synopses have their place, but it's not in the inbox of an agent who received fifty submissions that day (unless you attach it as a document). You want to keep the Bait part of your query brief; touch on the major conflict and then let the agent's curiosity do the rest. If you've set your Bait up the right way and the agent is searching for work in your genre, this will usually work.

Switch: This is where you reel 'em in with your dazzling life story. Your dazzling life story, by the way, is about three sentences long. Since I got my authors' permission to brag about them but not to reveal the locations of their secret lairs, we'll use my life as the Switch example.

Five Different Ways to Win an Albanian Moose Race is a 100,000-word non-fiction memoir and the debut work from Ethan Vaughan. Ethan is a journalist and literary agent whose work has appeared in The Most Awesome Newspaper Ever. He's been told he has very nice hair.   

Include the word count of your manuscript, its genre, and the two or three most salient facts about yourself. That's really all you need.

And now, let's switch gears. Ladies and gentlemen, we are entering the realm of YA.

YA is a party! Hopefully not a stripper party--I'm not sure what those two people are doing on stage--since we're talking about teenagers, but definitely a party! There's pretty lights, and disco balls, and fruit punch and CUPCAKES. This post has involved more food than it should. But, anyway.

YA is fun to write, fun to read, and fun to talk about, which is why the queries written for it tend to work with the Hook, Bait, and Switch method so nicely.

S.E.'s novel, The Transformation(s) of Tabitha Grey, is about a sixteen-year-old transgender witch who has to figure out why dark wizards are running amok in her town. I know you got to "transgender witch" and did a double take, but trust me, this works. The first chapter opens with the protagonist randomly getting turned into a deer. Does life get much better?

And so, the query.

Hook: Tabitha Grey thought her life was weird enough. And not regular sixteen-year-old girl weird. More like, my-house-can-think-and-it-might-eat-you weird. Oh, and did she mention that her father is a warlock masquerading as an herbalist? Or that her pets are three centuries-old ravens? Or that she’s transgender? Yeah, life as Tabitha can be pretty awkward.

This is longer than the literary fiction hook, but S.E.'s book has more novel--if you'll pardon the pun--elements to latch on to. I just threw a whole plateful of weird at some editor's head, but because a lot of YA is based on teenagers wryly commenting on the craziness around them, it works (I think). 

Bait: But when someone unleashes powerful dark magic on her town and begins abducting residents, life goes from awkward to scary fast. Now Tabitha Grey has to help her father find the culprit and try to figure out what kind of power she and her twin brother will inherit when they turn seventeen, all while navigating her transgender transformation.

And she’d better be sharp. This dark plot is more than what it seems, and it just might take the person closest to her.

Duh duh duh. Not all ABBA remixes and ice cream floats now, is it? The Bait in this case shows that the unusual premise has some substance behind it. 

Switch: The Transformation(s) of Tabitha Grey is a 49,000-word young-adult fantasy with a sardonic twist. It is the first in a trilogy from S.E. Smith that follows the magical Grey family on their odyssey to stop an evil cohort of warlocks hell bent on taking over the world—with a zombie army at their backs.

S.E. Smith is a professional ass-kicker and can make cheesecake that has mystical powers. 

BAM. And I don't mean that like an editor's door being slammed in my face, I mean BAM like we just high-fived because we're so awesome. And stuff. 

And one last thing: even if you are not a grammar Nazi or a spelling fascist in your day-to-day life, make sure that your query letter is English-teacher worthy before you send it in. If an agent gets into a manuscript whose premise he likes and finds a few errors here and there, he's probably going to ignore them with the knowledge that he can do some editing later on if he decides to represent you. If your query letter has gaping errors in spelling, punctuation, or grammar, though, it can cast serious aspersions on your ability to execute a full-length book. That kind of submission will find its way quickly to the No box. 

I hope I've imparted something meaningful in between my tripe about Welshmen and disco balls. And if I haven't, well, then prepare to hear me openly mocked at the next conference you attend. Not worried too much, though. I'm like a solid sixty-five percent sure I did this right. 

Searching for Way More Stories 'Cause Now I'm an Agent

Remember how back in May I promised I'd never abandon you? And then remember how I immediately abandoned you?

Yeah, that happened. And since I can't really pretend I haven't been gone for eight months, or maybe blame my departure on a particularly bad case of food poisoning, I'll just 'fess up. I got busy. Stuff happened. I slept a bit.

To be fair, this absence was a lot more justifiable than the first time I callously left to you to the literary wilds back in November 2011. Back then I really had no out. It was the Thanksgiving of my last year in college and I basically just decided to watch YouTube and eat turkey for a few months straight.

This time around, though, a lot happened. I got a personal trainer. I went vegan.* I had a haircut or two. And, oh yeah: I became a literary agent.

No big deal. Except it was. Like, the hugest deal ever.

Shortly before I was hired in August 2012 I was having a conversation with a good friend of mine about pursuing dreams and how badly I wanted to pursue mine.

"I just love literature so much," I said. "I want it to be my career. And I'm, you know--I'm so nervous about whether that's tenable."

"Well, hey," he said, tapping my adorable shoulder. "Don't give up. I'm sure the writing thing will work out for you. And you can fall back on the literary agent stuff until it does."

"What? The literary agent thing is the dream."

"Oh, I thought you wanted to be an artist. I mean...that would be a lot more romantic."

"What could be more romantic than commercially viable fiction?"

"Pretty much anythin--"

"And occasional non-fiction proposals, too."

For many of you, of course, the news of my dramatic ascent--do not contradict me on this--is not new, a fact that I find quite flattering. But for the few people who haven't been avidly following my career, I'll get you up to speed: in December 2011 I began interning with San Francisco-based Kimberley Cameron & Associates, and in August 2012 they hired me as an agent. Above you can see me with my colleague and fellow agent, Elizabeth Kracht.

The hiring was, well, magical. It mostly consisted of my jumping up and down and screaming in a girlish manner while Elizabeth attempted to say something sensible.

My grandmother, who unfortunately for the world is very, very dead, would have been appalled to see the spectacle I made.

"Ethan, collect yourself," I can hear her saying. "You're behaving like some Northumbrian parvenu."

To which I would have replied, "I don't know what one of those words means and you are the weirdest racist ever."

But I digress.

The fact of the matter is that it has been an enormous privilege for me to work with Kimberley Cameron. Under her stewardship I have learned a great deal about publishing and have been given the opportunity to search for many, many stories. Except this time you guys are in on the plot. Before I had to seek out prospective manuscripts through this site and now you send them, by the boat load, to me. It's an arrangement I rather like.

My hope is that the blog, which so many of the hopefuls who submit to Kimberley Cameron have identified with my name, can become a forum wherein I interact with authors, readers, those who have submitted or want to submit, and even those who are just interested in literature. My other hope is that, if authors who have sent us their stories can read regular updates for me, they'll know I haven't forgotten they exist.

Someone set up a page on Query Tracker to keep tabs on me, and one of the commentators--yes, I totally am that person who reads his own comments, so don't talk smack on me because I will so know about it--recently said, "It seems like we're a mob of people waiting outside these high iron gates. And waiting to see which select few get allowed inside."

Maybe I'm just sappy, but something about that really struck me. It's so incredibly difficult to lay your hopes out for someone else's scrutiny, to know that a word from them could make your dreams come true or put everything on hold. I get that. I've been there. And having that authority is a responsibility that I, and everyone at Kimberley Cameron, take seriously.

We read every query. We evaluate every project. And while it may take more time than we'd like--my inbox looks like the Amazon rain forest--we eventually get to everyone. But you know, feel free to prod us. Feel free to ask me questions, here or by e-mail. And feel free to query! Send your goodies to ethan@kimberleycameron.com.

Over the next...um, ever, I guess, I'll be keeping you in the loop about my professional escapades and responding to any questions you have. I am also considering offering editing services--which you will make use of at your peril, though that is for another post--and, provided I can make the time, will post details about that soon.

So, good writing and good reading and thanks for hanging on! If you're there. Which you're probably not. I mean, it's been eight months. Oh, well. At least now I'm returning to blogging as a mature and seasoned publishing professional.

*I'm not actually a vegan.

A Tip: Rejection Is...Good

Okay, so maybe it's not good. I mean, no one likes rejection. Why, just the other day I was informed that my lemon meringue was "dry and unpleasant, with the taste of a dirty sock and a texture not unlike the gravel one might find on one of West Virginia's more hazardous roadways." To which I responded by crying "Rapscallion!" and challenging my great-aunt to a duel.

But I digress.

My point is that rejection in the publishing industry, while it might not feel good, is by no means bad. In fact, it's often a blessing in disguise.

You see, the fact of the matter is that most people just don't know how to write saleable books. This has nothing to do with talent. One of the sadder truths of publishing is that the most gifted writers are often the least likely to see their work come to light. That largely derives from the fact that the publishing industry is in essence part of the entertainment industry and, as anyone who's ever seen the Grammys can tell you, the entertainment industry is not a talent competition.

Take Kesha. Oh, sorry, Ke$ha.

You see, this is what you want to be. Sparkly, gauche, a little bit sticky, and likely of questionable personal hygiene. Well, at least in spirit. Can the young woman before you dance? No. Can she sing? Hell no. But she knows the formula, and as a result she's sold 3 million records.

So it is in the publishing industry.

You may be the most talented writer ever, but if you don't use that talent to write about something people want to read about, and in a way that makes it easy for them to do so, you're not likely to meet with success.  I know from personal experience. As a writer myself I made the mistake countless times (and have the rejection letters to prove it) and as an agent-in-waiting I can recognize it in others (my newer work, as you can imagine, is much different than what I was writing two or three years ago).

Now, granted, the whole music-industry analogy is limited; you can become a pop star without being able to sing, but if you can't string a coherent sentence together there's no way you're going to get published no matter how great your premise is. Still, the conceit has its merits. There are certain conventions within publishing that, when honored, make the likelihood of success substantially higher.

In YA, for instance, relatability is key. Your protagonist should speak in a straightforward, distinctive voice that teenagers will find easy to empathize with. Humor in the narrative voice is a big plus, also; I've read manuscripts that hooked me on their wry, zany observational tone alone.

Genres and sub-genres aside, there are some rules that apply across the industry. Be concise. Get to the point. Keep the plot moving so the reader doesn't lose interest. Accessibility is essential and wordiness is accessibility's arch-nemesis, so cut down on the adverbs and never use a ten-dollar word where a five-cent one would suffice.

And be thankful for your rejection letters.

One of the common misconceptions about literary agents, and one I had as an aspiring writer, is that they sit around all day cackling maniacally as they use writers' submissions for kindling. It's not the case. Very few literary agents take any joy in sending out rejections--though there are some choice superstars--and for most the process is difficult, not just because they're delivering a blow but because often they know a project is viable.

Why would an agent reject a viable project?

Because there are only so many hours in the day. That's really what it boils down to. Any agent worth his salt devotes a tremendous amount of time and energy to manuscripts he takes on, and given the level of commitment required it's impossible to manage more than a handful at once without doing a disservice to the client. Most of the stories I've rejected (and there have been hundreds of them) haven't been clearly unfit; most are good, very good even, but not as good as the best thing I've gotten, and that best thing must take priority.

So take heart. A rejection letter does not make you a bad writer or even make your project a bad project, and oftentimes a manuscript that doesn't work for one agent will work for another. Plus a rejection, if it comes with feedback, can be one of your greatest tools in your development as a writer. Keep those chins up.

And for goodness' sakes be gracious.

The publishing industry is small--my literary agent supervisor had the daring to call it "incestuous"--and nothing rankles its members quite so much as the author who pours venom back at an agent. Trust me, you don't want that reputation.

Speaking of letters, both of rejection and acceptance, I'm close to choosing my May 2012 Author of the Month! Thanks to everyone who submitted and wish me luck for an awesome read to come!

Do You Want to Be My May 2012 Author of the Month?

I'd like to begin by thanking all of the people who read and commented on my interview with Yvonne Osborne. Yvonne is a talented author and if my post drew any attention to her work I’ll consider it a job well done.

I’ve never been one to rest on my laurels, however, and while launching Ms. Osborne to heights of literary superstardom heretofore unknown by even the most august authors was quite an accomplishment, I must turn my attention now to molding a new giant.

Do you want to be my May 2012 Author of the Month?

I know, I know, the attention can be daunting. Being featured on my blog, after all, catapults you onto what is arguably the largest platform of any kind in popular culture. But, hey, you’d get some free editing feedback out of it. So whether you’re a novelist, short-story writer, or have the next Fifty Shades of Grey cooking up on your laptop, send me your project. I do have a particular penchant for fantasy, YA, and historical fiction, but, as my experience with Yvonne demonstrates, can see great value in manuscripts from other genres.

If you’re interested in being featured here please send a query-style letter and the first chapter of your project to evaughanmail@gmail.com. I will choose my favorite in the first week of May and request a full manuscript from the selected author. After that I’ll read the entire book, provide the author with a reader’s report and detailed notes, answer any questions they may have, and finally conduct an interview that will be printed on the blog in late May.

It’ll be fun for both of us.

Plus, it’ll save you a TON of money. I mean, not to brag or anything, but editing doesn’t come cheap and when I’m not blogging or wearing silly hats I’ve been known to charge a little bit of money for what I do for free on the site. Just sayin’.

So bring on the manuscripts! I know you guys have some great projects in you and I’m very excited to see what those are.

April 2012 Author of the Month: An Interview With Yvonne Osborne

Yvonne Osborne is a self-described "organic writer" whose work encompasses traditional themes like romance and rivalry while also incorporating environmental themes. I recently had the pleasure of reading her debut novel-in-progress, Black River. After I'd completed the manuscript and offered my feedback, I asked Yvonne to speak with me in-depth about the project. The results were revealing:

Your novel, Black River, takes place in Michigan and is heavily steeped in that unique northern environment. How did Michigan influence this book and what impact has it had on your other writing?

The Michigan landscape and environment has had a huge impact on my writing. I grew up running barefoot around the farm. I learned to swim in Lake Huron which we just called the lake, and we vacationed “Up North” in a modest cottage on a little lake with a fishing boat and a dock. My father instilled in us a love of nature, from driving around the countryside and pointing out a dairy herd or a field of rye to walking the lane and remarking upon the unique beauty of a pheasant and how to listen for the sound of a quail.

From the predictable migration of the Canadian geese to the ever-changing landscape, Michigan is a part of me I can’t separate myself or my writing from. Though I moved away for a while, I never really left, and my writing is influenced now by what I see going on around me. This seeps into Black River. Since nothing is truer than fiction, writing fiction is an outlet for my emotions. I can plant them in my fictional characters and they act them out in ways that I can’t.


The main family in the book, the Sopals, are organic farmers who are closely in touch with the rhythms of nature. You write about their agricultural life with a great level of detail. Do you have a background in farming? If so, how do you feel your roots are reflected in your work?

I grew up on the family farm where my parents still live. It has been in the family for almost two-hundred years. We are certified organic and have had to face some of the same issues the Sopals face. Sustainable farming is a way of life. My brother is simply farming the way my father did fifty years ago, before the invention of agricultural chemicals and petroleum-based fertilizers. My roots are reflected in my work in every way. Memories I forgot I had come out when the writing begins.


Black River tackles a number of hot-button issues, including wrongful imprisonment, climate change, murder, incest, rape, illegal immigration, and the pervasiveness of the military-industrial complex. Which of these did you consider most important to write about?


Do I have to choose one?

Climate change is real and is beginning to adversely affect us here in rural America. For instance, planting zones have changed, and as farmers, we have to rethink seed varieties, switching from northern staples to longer-season crops.

As an example: our favorite varieties of garlic no longer do as well here. Crops like hardneck garlic and winter wheat need a long cold winter and snow cover. We aren’t getting that anymore. We’ve reached the point of irreversible damage, yet as a country we continue to ignore it. Thus, I think it is important to write about.

Secondly, I see chilling similarities between what is happening here and what happened in Germany in the 1930s. Fear of immigrants, isolationism, and a rising military industrial complex that is revered and can do no wrong in the prevailing view of the public.

Don’t get me wrong: I’m as patriotic as the next person, but patriotism is not about isolationism and hiding your insecurities behind the flag. It’s not about wearing the flag backwards on your sleeve. It’s about flying the flag on a pole and taking it down at night. It’s about welcoming strangers. If I had to choose, I would say that this is the most important thing I could write about.


In Black River you take a highly critical stance on both the American justice system and the U.S. military, to the point that one character's decision to enlist as a servicemember is regarded by the others as a major crisis. Some readers will doubtless take affront to your positions here. What motivated you to include them?


I’ve had military recruiters knocking on my front door to take my son out to breakfast only to find him recalcitrant in his bedroom, having changed his mind.

"Please tell them I don’t want to go."

Two grown men in dress uniforms are hard to stand down when you’re only seventeen. They entered the high school, hunting him down, but the principal had the balls to kick them out. Believe me, this felt like a crisis. More recently I’ve seen them on the farm looking for my nephew. They’re like bloodhounds on the scent of vulnerability. I see it as preying on susceptible youth with promises of money, travel, and education. I see them as Jehovah Witnesses on the doorstep, and I know a lot of people will hate me for this, but I don’t like anyone on my doorstep trying to sell me anything, whether it’s vacuums, salvation, or heroes.

It’s important for us to have a viable military but when the culture starts to permeate every aspect of society and enlistees are treated like heroes when they haven’t done anything other than make a career choice, an unhealthy situation arises. Military recruiters have argued successfully that they be allowed on campus just like any other recruiter. Okay. Fair enough. But why is the kid they recruit any more of a hero than the kid who decides to go into Medicine at his own expense? Or those who select the Peace Corps or Agricultural Science or Biology? (With growing antibiotic resistance, we are going to need a lot of them.) Or the kid who decides to farm and provide clean, healthy food for his/her community? Who are our heroes? Who will make the more important contribution to society? When undue acclaim is given to the military career over all others, the balance in society is upended.

Finally, I work at the airport and I see the welcome-home banners and the honor guards and the flag-waving and the cheering. I see young people coming home, conflicted by the attention. I remember one youth in particular who walked off the airplane by himself and was met by his parents shyly waving little flags. He shouldered his rucksack and said, “Put those away. I need a cigarette.”


You experienced some success in a writing contest sponsored by Amazon. Could you tell us about that?

Some very modest success, I would say. My novel was one of 10,000 entries. The first round judging was based solely on the pitch, a 300-word query. From that the field was narrowed from 10,000 to 2,000, a drastic lowering of the boom. So when I made the cut, I was ecstatic. Then came the reading. In the second round each 5,000-word excerpt was read by two Amazon reviewers and from those two reviews 500 advanced. My two reviews were rather tough, and I did not advance. But I have taken away something positive from the experience. And I added another layer to my epidermis.


What do you hope readers take away from Black River?

That it isn’t always easy to be good in the country. There’s a lot of passion out here in the country. We have opposing views on methods, but farming is the backbone of society, and we believe that sustainable farming is the future.

I hope that readers of Black River take away a desire to help find a solution to the migrant worker/immigration dilemma and that they will at least entertain the ideas that growing food is more important than waging war, and forcing women to give up control of their reproductive health to a government controlled by men is not a healthy way for society to advance. Finally, I hope that readers will just enjoy my story, the twists and turns, the subplots and the romance.

A Simple Tip: Introductory Dialogue

Something that's true in writing as in life is that the smartest solutions often get overlooked because they're so obvious. Who would think, for instance, that you can improve your gas mileage by watching your tire pressure? It's too easy a fix.

One thing I see constantly in short stories, unedited manuscripts, and even published books is a scenario that plays out like this:

The man in the suit stepped forward.

"I'm sorry," he told the other guests. "I'm being so rude. Anna, this is Adrian Adams."

A college-aged man with long hair nodded his head in Anna's direction.

"Adrian, this is Anna Smith."

Anna waved shyly.

"And this," the man said, indicating a well dressed woman of about forty. "Is Dr. Susanna Hudson."

"Good evening, Dr. Hudson," Anna said.

Can anyone tell me what's wrong with this picture?

Let me put it this way: when is the last time, unless you were conducting a seminar, that you introduced yourself to anyone using both your first and last name?

It just doesn't happen, at least not at a casual dinner party, but for some reason authors consistently ignore this basic tenet of social interaction. Having your characters introduce themselves by first name only--unless, of course, they're in a situation where the use of the last name would be appropriate--is much more true to life and can give the manuscript a more realistic feel.

The man in the suit stepped forward.

"I'm sorry," he told the other guests. "I'm being so rude. Anna, this is Adrian."

A college-aged man with long hair nodded his head in Anna's direction.

"Adrian, Anna."

Anna waved shyly.

"And this," the man said, indicating a well dressed woman of about forty. "Is Susanna."

"Hi," Anna said.

"Susanna's actually a surgeon at the medical center."

"Oh, wow," Anna said. "What kind of surgeon are you?"

Note that this establishes Susanna's role as a doctor without having her awkwardly introduced as "Dr. Susanna Hudson."

I hope this is helpful. I'll continue to post these little tidbits as I think of them.

I'm Back

Well, this is embarrassing. Here I'd promised you a path to fame and fortune, plus a conduit through which you could bask in my literary brilliance on a regular basis, and then I just disappeared for four months. If you ask me it was a bit of a tease.

Of course, I had cause.

The life of a recent college graduate, though slow when compared to the lives of those who, say, are still in college, is by no means a leisurely stroll. In the months since George Mason conferred upon me a bachelor's degree in government and international politics I've been stretching myself so thin and in so many different directions that I'm beginning to think I should give up agenting and become a contortionist.

First there's the internship.

I quite enjoyed, as some of you may remember, interning in New York last summer and so in the months before graduation began searching for another opportunity. I've now been interning with a California-based agency since December and have, under my patient and friendly boss, been entrusted with a great deal more work than I was in my previous position. I never, for instance, interacted directly with authors while in New York but in my current role do so regularly. It's nice.

Beyond that I've lent my alleged expertise to some prospective authors who've paid me to edit their manuscripts and have contributed a series of music reviews (most of which seem, in retrospect, designed to call into public question my taste and good judgement) to the Loudoun Times-Mirror, a local newspaper.

But enough about me.

Let's talk about you guys.

I will, as of this week, be accepting manuscript submissions once again, though I won't be able to feature select authors as often as I'd like. Back when I started this blog, I aimed to feature one author per week. What a quaint notion.

Instead I'll be choosing one manuscript a month to showcase and, in the meantime, will post on books and practical tips for writers. In my capacity as an intern I see hundreds of manuscripts, the overwhelming majority of which could benefit from the same kinds of basic edits. Hopefully posting them will help this site's readers as you work on your projects (and save you editing expenses as well).

So send in the manuscripts! I have my first featured author ready to go and I need a second one for April. And meanwhile keep on writing. I promise I won't abandon you.

This time.