Hello, dreamers. I’m now in full query mode, and remembering why I hate this so much. But this time is different. I find myself hating it less and less. Because this time, I feel I might actually be prepared. Most of my efforts last week were focused on query prep, and thought it’s been a slog, it’s been productive. As my return to querying approaches, I still have a lot to do. So with that in mind, here’s what I’ll be working on this week:

Querying Seven Days on Samarkand

In case you missed it, on Saturday I participated in #PosterPit, a Twitter pitch event in which aspiring writers depict their novels as movie posters. I’m no graphic artist, as even a cursory glance at my humble offerings would show. But I received a lot of support, and made a lot of new writing friends, particularly within the #querying community. So I’m calling that a win.

Of course, my biggest goal last week was to write a query letter. Setting myself to writing a query letter in a single week may have been too ambitious, in retrospect. Over the past week I spent every night just writing query letters, most of which were deleted the next day (some that very night). But with a little help from a shiny new author friend (okay, a lot of help), I’ve turned a corner. As of this writing, I’ve come up with my first query letter that comes in under 400 words. And it actually feels compelling. It looks more like a typical query letter. I might not delete this one. Might.

In any event, I did manage to revise my synopsis. With any luck, by the end of this week I’ll have a query letter I’m confident enough to send to an agent’s inbox. From there, just a little more waiting. For a variety of reasons actually not related to my query letter frustrations, early last week I decided to push back my first round of queries. I’ll now be sending them out in early September. So if you’re a sci-fi literary agent and you’re reading this, get ready. I’ll shake your windows. I’ll rattle your walls.

Website and Platform

One thing pushing back my query deadline will do is give me more time to update my platform. I’m satisfied with the changes I’ve made to this website for now. However, I delayed the formal launch of my Substack. This was done partially because, well, writing query letters basically ate my life last week. But I also wanted to take time to fine-tune my content.

For some time now, I’ve heard that the vast majority of writers on Substack mostly post about…well, writing. And while I fear wading into a saturated market, if it works it works. However, I’ve started seeing more fiction Substacks. So before I commit to a posting regimen, I’d like more time to vet available content and see how much appetite there is for short fiction out there. Stay tuned.

Aquarius 1

Between the progress I’ve made on query materials and pushing back my planned query launch, it’s looking more likely that I will be able to resume writing on Aquarius 1 before the end of August. Hopefully as early as next week. Already I’ve been thinking a lot about the story. But my thinking has changed somewhat.

Despite feeling very good about what I have so far, I’m leaning more and more toward simply starting from scratch. At the very least I’m thinking about rewriting everything after the opening. I just keep feeling there’s an even better way to do all this. Plus, starting over will give me more time to conduct biosphere research while still actively writing. And after the month I’ve had so far, it would feel great to actually, you know, write again. I miss it. Writing query letters sucks.

Short Fiction

Though I’ve continued my daily sketches, most days over the past several weeks that’s been the only actual writing I’ve done all day. Much as was the case when I transitioned to query prep (and later urban renewal on my manuscript) in mid-spring, I’ve lost momentum in short fic as my focus has shifted.

I have managed to write a few sketches that have potential as short stories, but every time I’ve tried to work on one of them I inevitably find myself staring at my latest query letter again. Unfinished projects bother me. Especially ones that have a clear deadline.

Hopefully, I’ll be able to knock out my query materials and all the prep by mid-week. That will at least give me a few days to work on short fiction and see if anything shakes loose. Then college football season begins. And from that point on, my Saturdays are essentially spoken for.

New Content

This week in my “WIP Wednesday” post, I’ll be getting back to Aquarius 1, and discussing my thoughts on starting over when writing a novel. On Friday I’ll finally be releasing my next literary “Sci-Fi Reviewed”, where I’ll be taking a look at All Systems Red by Martha Wells. No, seriously. I’ve been promising it for over a month, and one thing after another has kept getting in the way. I’ll be closing the week out on Sunday with a new “Dear Sir or Madam”, in which I’ll be explaining the finer points of writing a query letter (lord knows I have enough practice at this point). Until then, dare to dream. – MK