Yesterday morning I went to Lowes for a quart of deep sea blue paint. Okay technically I’d been thinking a maroon or rusty orange but I have a weakness for oceany-indigo, especially with a name like “Salty Dog.” My plan was to redo the mudroom and make it more functional and visually appealing. The plan behind the plan was to do something creative in order to spark further creativity. I’d written 1900wc Wednesday and I’m on a slight roll right now (did another 1500wc yesterday) so I wanted something physical to counter that.
When I got back, I found #PitMad trending on Twitter so I checked it out and it was a writing challenge: pitch your novel in a tweet. I can’t resist a challenge like that. Restraints are parked firmly in the wheelhouse up my alley, especially when they involve word count limits/parameters or (better yet) character limits. Since I have all my query materials ready to go at any time, I just pulled the WS material, edited it, and sent it out:
The professional lesson to take is one that I’ve espoused before but not since I created this version of a personal website: always be prepared with your query materials, including a concise pitch in your mental file. Be ready to share (1) what happens in the story and (2) what the story is about.
The personal lesson here is that life happens and I haven’t queried in years because raising two kids who have special needs takes up time and energy that I’m more than happy to expend because they are spectacular human beings. But sometimes there’s a little nudge from the universe and I was lucky enough to catch that nudge yesterday.
Stephanie Lenz 