Update

Quick update on the state of things.  Book one is complete, Whoo Hoo!  I hit the print button and I'll be doing some editing on a first ever hard copy of it.  What a milestone this is, but I can't sit on my laurels just yet; there is still so much to be done.  The polishing process will take up most of January I suspect.

Also during this time, I've been doing the framework for book two "Of Diar Age." I want to make sure it aligns nicely with all the foreshadowing I've done with the first book.  As I've previously stated in another blog I've even begun writing the first chapter.  We are talking still very very rough draft. lol

Lastly, I've been finalizing the query letter I'll be sending off to literary agents I'm interested in.  Let me just say this is a very tricky part of the process.  For those of you not familiar with a query letter I guess I should elaborate a bit.  When you write a book, you then have to get it published right?  Well between you and the publisher is a person who will basically represent you and help you sell the manuscript to the publishing firms.  They make sure your rights and royalties are in order and a bunch of other legal stuff.  However the tricky part is that there are so many would-be writers out there that the literary agents get swamped with inquiries.  The result is that the agents have to be very picky with who they take on as a client.  So even though they are representing you, the writer still has to "win" the agent over.  It would be like trying to convince the car salesman to sell you a car and not the next guy.

So to win the agent over a writer has to create a query letter, and a damn good one.  The query basically informs the agent that the writer has completed a manuscript and then describes various elements of the novel. You basically have one page to summarize your entire manuscript and basically "sell" or "hook" this very well informed member of the literary world.  It is as complex and important as a persons resume.  So I've been tweaking my query (can I say that in public) trying my best to give this book a shot at a successful start.