Wednesday, February 8, 2012

Wednesday Writing: Introducing the Weekly Query Workshop!

So, I've been thinking about the direction I want to go in with this blog, and I think I'd like to offer more than just my musings. I want to offer something that will actually help people.

So, I've decided that Wednesday is going to be a Query Critique day. But not just any queries: Picture Book queries!

Color me weird and call me crazy, but I kind of like queries. And I know a lot of people find them hard, but I don't find them difficult at all. It must be all that time I sent on book reports when I was little. Boiling a picture book down to one sentence is like stirring cream into my coffee: smooth, easy, quick, and with tasty results. And oddly enough, I enjoy that kind of thing. So I figure, why not put that to use for the greater good?

So here's the deal. You send me your picture book queries and cover letters via email (the address is up there under my photo), and every Wednesday, I'll critique one on the blog. Others are free to comment as well with their feedback, so you get a whole workshop. I'll let you know ahead of time what week your query will be up, so you can check in and see what everyone has to say.

If I have a week with no query, I'll post something sage and wise about writing in general. And to give us time for the news to spread and get some queries going, I'll post next Wednesday with some tips and a template that I like to use for my Picture Book queries and cover letters.

In the meantime, let's do a quick and informal poll: how many of you write Picture Books? How many of you think you might want to, but haven't tried?

7 comments:

  1. I don't write picture books. But I think that's awesome that you'll be querying them for others who do.

    ReplyDelete
  2. I don't write picture books, and I've never seen a picture book query! Should be interesting!

    ReplyDelete
  3. I've never written a picture book, but you know I love queries! I'll be sure to Facebook and Tweet about it once the series begins.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I love this idea. Yes, I guess I try very hard to write PB.

    ReplyDelete
  5. Oh that's fabulous Ishta, unfortunately I've just sent some crap queries off to agents lol. But only three so any more will have the Ishta touch :0)

    ReplyDelete
  6. Ishta, great idea! I don't write PB's but I'd love the insight into what those queries look like.

    ReplyDelete
  7. It is quite impressive post. Thanks for this.

    Cover letters

    ReplyDelete