A nicer QueryShark

My friend and colleague Sorche Fairbank is offering a query revision workshop at Grub Street (in Boston) this month. You'd be CRAZY to pass up this chance to get your query polished up.


Here are the details:
Query Clinic

Saturday, June 29th, 10:30am-5:30pm at Grub Street headquarters.

A one day intensive session on query letters. For the first half of the class, agent Sorche Fairbank of Fairbank Literary will take the class through the shelf-life of a query, dissect its four most important components, diagram the essential elements of a query’s synopsis, identify the five most common mistakes authors make in their queries, give insight and tips on how to stand out in the slushpile, and provide a review of a laundry list of query Dos and Don’ts.



After covering all the basics, the instructor will hand back students’ queries, with notes on recommended changes. Students will have time to rework their query in class, by hand or by laptop, and then the instructor will lead a group critique of each reworked query with the class. Amazing changes are expected.


NOTE: I've seen this in person and it IS amazing!



By the close of the class, students should expect to have a strong query letter that gets an agent’s attention, and will have take home notes and class handouts.


Open to all levels, all genres.

Important: Please prepare and email to [lauren at Grubstreet dot org] no later than noon on Monday, June 24th, a query letter of no more than 400 words for the instructor, who will provide comments and edits on the query for use in class, and as a take-home reference.

For Class: Bring two copies of your query, and means to work on revisions (pen and paper, or laptop).

Instructor: Sorche Fairbank


Level: For Everyone
Type: 6-Hour Intensive Class
Max Capacity: 12 students

register here: GrubStreet classes

Art in odd places

I got a charge out out of the painting above the entry to a magazine store in DC.

Hua!

I never realized the Iwo Jima memorial is really a memorial to all fallen Marines from the Revolutionary War forward.


I never realized how BIG this memorial was till I stood next to it tonight.

I never realized how many wars we fought till I saw the list circle the base of the memorial, and start over again on the next side.

And when someone-who-shall-remain nameless asked her dad "Didn't you used to be a Marine?" he replied "Once a Marine, always a Marine, kid."


Hua, Pop. And thanks.

Ok, so I'm a day late, it's worth it

this just might be the coolest essay about dads I've read in a long time.

Happy Father's Day!

Five Days at Memorial by Sheri Fink

I got an advance reader's edition of FIVE DAYS AT MEMORIAL by Sheri Fink at the BEA Buzz Panel.  The presentation by her editor Vanessa Mobley led me to instruct  Trusty Minion Lizz to grab this one first.

I'm pretty sure this book will be on my year-end list of sox-knockers, and I'm only up to page 152 so far.

Here are a couple things to know:

1. I've had to stop reading it in public places like on the train to DC and the hotel breakfast cafe cause it's embarrassing to start weeping in public.

2. It made me want to  learn to fly helicopters.

3. It made me want to take up triage as a profession.

4:  "Green stood up and walked over to another patient.  She couldn't stand to watch this lady die on the ground, in a parking garage, in an American city, because nobody came to get her.  She didn't want to know this lady's name."

Yup

You guys made me laugh so hard I was forced to shut the door to my office while I read your entries!
A great solace on a cold, windy NYC afternoon.

Here are the entries that stood out in a very crowded field!

Brandi M. 8:45am

#2 This was the only human suit I could find.

Brian Wells 9:25am

My advice? You get a good man, hang on to him. Alphonse, here? First time I asked him to dispose of a body, he flinched. But his brother, Rodrigo -- what a guy. When I asked him to dispose of Alphonse, he didn't bat an eye. Good man, that Rodrigo.

Matthew Masucci 9:52am

“So, tell me, how do you like being the eye-candy at BEA, gentlemen?”

“We’re actually activists.”

“For what?”

“We’re members of an organization that is battling headless models on Romance covers.”

“What’s organization is that?”

“It’s clever, really. No Bed ‘til Head.”

“We’re really tired of the objectification of men”

MM 9:59am

Man 1: "We're twins--conjoined. I'm so used to Adam that it seem weird to me that most people don't have their twin's tiny head growing out of their shoulder."

Man 2: "I had a twin. I ate him."

Kregger 10:15am

“Hey, cool shirt. I love, love, love the parody, Got Sex? who’d thunk it?”

“Thanks, Caveman. Have we met?”

“Sure, in Philosophy lab.”

“Oh! I didn’t recognize you without the horn-rimmed glasses and pocket protector.”

“I’m near-sighted.”

“You still dance at Wild Rockets?"

“Yeah…who sponsors you?"

"Christian Mingle dot com."

A 10:37am

Seriously man? Cool. I write New Adult too. Mine’s about a personal trainer who leaves The Shore for The City, falls in love with hat design and his roommate along the way. 'Man Hat In'. Almost a memoir.”

M.R. Pritchard 11:42pm

This has got to be one of the best meat-suits I’ve found on this godforsaken planet. “Hello ladies, would you like to sign up for a chance to win a private query pitch?”

“Don’t creep them out.”

“Relax, I’ve go-”

“The only thing you’ve got is a deadline. We need three for the sacrifice.”

 And the winner cause it was just plum perfect:

JD Paradise 2:44pm

"This is just to say --"

"Yeah?"

"--I have drunken the protein shake."

"From the icebox? I was saving that--"

"For breakfast, I know. Forgive me. It was disgusting. Too sweet. But very cold."

JD if you'll email me your mailing address and the kinds of books you like to read we'll fix you up with a prize!

Thanks to everyone who participated!