Well, I’m still working on that all important query letter.  A never-ending project for me.

But first:

Last cliches:

All-time High– A record achievement , never before surpassed.  This is an Americanism, early 20th Cent.  This term has been applied to economic matters ie production, recreational example golf scores and lots of other areas.

Have a Finger In Every Pie — Be involved in numerous activities, usually in the sense of meddling.  Dates from 16th Cent.  Shakespeare used it in Henry the VIII (1:1) where Duke of Buckingham complains of Cardinal Wolsey, “No man’s pie is freed from his abitious finger.”

Gift of Gab — Fluency of Speech, tendency to boast.  Gab-both verb and noun-believed to come from Gaelic dialect word gob=”mouth.”  Appeared in Samuel Colvil’s Whiggs Supplication (1695): “There was a man called Job…He had a good gift of the Gob.”  Next century it became gab=William Godwin’s Caleb Williams (1794): “He knew well enough that he had the gift of the gab.”  In later years, “the” was dropped.

Well, I guess I have to grin and bear it and continue working with trying to write the perfect query letter.  I read one before my Calistoga critique group.  They gave me some pointers, then rewrote it and submitted it to my on-line critique group.  They gave me more ideas and one even rewrote it for me.  His sounds great.  My dilema–do I palm his off to some agent?  I mean I can change it a bit, but wouldn’t that be cheating?  Can one send in a query about one’s own book if someone else writes it?  I’m not sure about that.  I’m horrible at trying to “sell myself.”

And isn’t that what a query is?  Sell you and your book to someone?  I wouldn’t want to rub the agent in the wrong way.  Any of you have any advice on the subject?  Write my own, or use someone else’s great query written for you?

Well, either way, I should get back to the salt mines and Keep Writing, Reading, and doing what I love.

Until next time,

Julie A. Winrich
Helping Readers Enjoy Sleuthing and Solve Puzzles!