25th Musing: Literary Agents, the Query Process, (and Thanksgiving!)

RLN:
To all the Americans out there, Happy Thanksgiving!!! I am thankful to anyone who is reading this! and so many other things too! Listing them would take up way too much room, so I'll stop there (plus I sort of made a Thanksgiving post a couple weeks ago). To every other country, happy Thursday!
Speaking of which, has anyone seen that "It's Thanksgiving" video that's supposed to be the next Friday? My favourite part is when she randomly starts rapping then sings into a turkey leg. I also like when the producer guy just slowly pops up from the bottom of the screen. I would give you a link, but...do I really want to promote it?
Current obsession: perfecting my piano playing of Chopin!, nothing really new here (as it's been less than 24 hours, but I like to keep things fresh).
Currently listening to: Bubble Pop by: Hyuna (lol Will I be judged for this?)
RLN over.

For quite a few months now, I've been trying to get a literary agent and landed myself with nothing but form rejections! Now, I know that's normal and it doesn't get me down unlike some people who get one and fall into some depressed state. It's luck, really, and a lot of "query formatting" and hard-work....but once you got a good query down, it's A LOT of luck.

Right now, my dream agents are Janet Reid (doesn't represent my genre anymore :( ) and Brooks Sherman who is quite the character! I have reblogged the things on his tumblr too many times... Though somehow before I developed a, what I call to be, "agent crush" on him, I wrote to him at the end of August with a standard query, which wasn't personal because I didn't have any info on him really. Now, I've tweeted him a couple things and got replies--alriiight! Although I hope he isn't creeped out that I actually told him I have an agent crush on him...

(Update: Yay! He responded to me! The gist of my tweet was that I was sad that I somehow already queried him in August before I developed my agent crush on him: "Aww. Well, tweak that query for other agents. And if you query another project in the future, look me up! ;)"
(I love this guy XD Hmm...maybe it would be best if I found another agent crush--someone I haven't written to!)
If you're reading this...I'm not really sure what I want to tell you...Have a good day?)

Anyways!! I won't put my query letter here, but I will say that my genre is psychological/slice-of-life YA (young adult). It's loosely based on "A Tale of Two Sisters" (at least the psychology part) and a sliver of it is based on...well, here is the part where I'm glad the internet is anonymous!!
...Power Rangers Lightspeed Rescue... (but just THAT PR, not any other series! This one is quite complex for a little kid's show, really!)
I just continue to embarrass myself, don't I? It's because I love you readers.

    ???

(Ok, it's not based tooo much off of these, just a couple things here and there, so it's not THAT unappealing, I promise!)


Generally, querying is confusing because many agents say different things. They do all agree on the fact to NEVER make your query longer than a page (well, unless that specific agent is unique and wants more). Some want a lengthy summary and some want a small blurb--the big picture. Some want personal, some want blunt. It really comes down to the type of person they are, so I make sure to do a lot of research!



My outline goes like this:

Dear wonderful agent,

intro--how I found them, maybe personal detail, genre, word count, and title of my book (title is in CAPS)

small summary with main plot points. The spoiler about my book is that the two characters I switch off between are actually the same person, but I read not to spoil something like that here unless I have a bigger twist.

bio

Thank for your time and consideration (etc.)

From, desperate author (juuust joking)


Well, that's the basics! And now I'm off to put my sheet music in the right order...

16th Musing: No Arms, No Legs, No Worries

(I think I might add a current obsession note at the top just for fun *shrug* so far my current obsessions would be: TWEWY (make that Shibuya too XD), I AM THE BEST by 2NE1 (plus Minzy blows my mind), sushi (but that'll be a lifelong obsession), one day making a Shiki cosplay, and Kyon (or narrators like him because he is just really special). And with that outlandish and ultimately useless list, I'll move on to the main topic!

So as Thanksgiving is sort of approaching soon (less than a month at least) in Americana, an idea for a post about Nick Vujicic came to mind. Like the title suggests, he has no limbs, but he has managed to stay really positive through really rough times. Even just seeing his video (the title is above: No Arms, No Legs, No Worries--though I could have sworn it was No Problem instead of No Worries, but anyways--), I could tell he had such a wonderful and revitalizing presence (and the accent helps, I must say XD). After he speaks, he always has a lot of people crying, but in a good way. He tells everyone that they are special and perfect in their own way, but does it in a way that it's not just empty words--it's as if he knows exactly who he's speaking to.
One thing (out of many) that really stuck out to me is his story of how he became a professional speaker. So he would call hundreds of schools and they would turn him down, but nonetheless he persisted because this was his dream. Finally, he came to one school and just introduced himself as a professional speaker and said he wanted to come to their school, which was 2 hours away, and they would only pay him fifty dollars. Because he had no limbs, he obviously couldn't drive, so he asked his brother who refused at first, but then gave in when offered 50 dollars (first paycheck gone before he even did the job lol). Unfortunately, they only gave him 5 minutes to speak, but it was his first job so he just felt thankful to have it. Now, he has spoken to millions around the world!
As I think about him occasionally, each time I feel really thankful for my health and all that I have in my life because he feels extremely lucky despite being born without any arms or legs. I really don't know if I could feel even half as optimistic if I had been born like him, so he is extremely admirable, to say the least. So, I would like to use this blog to thank God for all that I have in my life because I feel so lucky.
I also remember reading this post on...I believe it was a site I found through stumbleupon (of course) where this one girl wrote, "As I'm thinking about how much my life sucks, I go to my room and listen to my ipod to feel better, but then I realize not everyone can have an ipod. And not everyone can have a bed."
That also reminded me to appreciate anything I've ever taken for granted.
However, I am in no way trivializing any problems that are less than life-altering because they, too, are valid, obviously. I was more just highlighting what I am thankful for because anything that makes us feel bad shouldn't be trivialized.
So, that was just to clear up the general topic. But yes, I will probably update before then, but if not, happy holidays!