Friday 19 June 2009

Smile on the Happiest Day of the Year

Some joker (psychologist Dr Cliff Arnall) has devised a formula for measuring mood through outdoor activity, energy levels and sunlight and came up with the answer that today is the happiest day of the year.

Hmm, well, Himself has gone off for the day golfing which means I can write uninterrupted, so maybe Dr C. has something!

And, this morning I had a bit of a brainstorm. Back in 2006 when the mighty Miss Snark, Literary agent, ran her blog, I dared to send a query letter and chapter off to her Crapometer contest. Here's what she said.

At the time, no-one knew who Miss Snark was, only that she vented her wrath on the hapless world of writers and crushed them to sand beneath her T.Rexual heels of stiletto snark, so I was unable to follow up with a proper submission. When I did find out who she was, I DID NOTHING ABOUT IT! Why? Why? Why? Today, I'll rectify that.

PS Thanks go to my on-line friend Lizzy for jogging my memory!

UPDATE! I just sent my query letter and brief synopsis off to Janet Reid at FineLit Agency US. Holding thumbs!

UPDATE TO UPDATE: Quick response from Janet Reid - Thank you for your query. I regret the volume of queries has made a form letter necessary. I regret I have to pass on many interesting projects due to time constraints.
I urge you to query widely of course!

5 comments:

ginny Swart said...

Go for it Sue, she'll remember you and snap it up. Ginny

Sue Houghton said...

Yes, I'll def send it off. I honestly thought I'd done so already but if I did I forgot to enter it in my subs list. Not in my 'subs sent' folder on Yahoo either.

Happy Writer said...

I can see why you were kicking yourself, that is fantastic feedback from Snark and other readers back in 2006, but you only have now and the previous comments should give you a lot of confidence going forward.

With the latest quick reply I don't read that as an outright rejection, just that they have a "lot" and you should submit elsewhere while you're waiting. Did you mention the 2006 feedback in your current email?

Kath McGurl said...

hey, I think I read your first few chapters on YWO back in 2006 - definitely ringing a bell!

Sue Houghton said...

Yes, you probably did read it on YWO. It was when it first started up I think. I stayed at No. 1 for a while (so did my 2nd novel)and I got an appraisal by...er, forget who it was now, but it was before they had Orion and Harper Collins agents on board. So long ago I forget. Fancy you remembering it!