Querying and the Dream-crushers

Querying is one of the most exciting milestones an author can get to. Here you have this manuscript you've been working on for____ (fill in blank, 6 months, 18 months, 20 years, etc.) streamlined to perfection and now is the time to bestow it on that select lucky agent who will sell it for a six figure advance as well as contact Tom Welling for the lead in the movie. I'm getting breathless just thinking about it.

Then comes that first rejection. I mean it was bound to happen and just because it was a form letter shouldn't bode ill for your baby, right? Wrong! And wrong again and again and again! *Sniffle* Now my breathlessness has turned to tension and tears as I remember the little dream crushers slamming me from my mailbox as well as my inbox. It finally gets to the point where a new email comes in and my finger hovers over the mouse button for a good 20-30 seconds until I get up the gumption to feel that pit in my stomach again.

So after having been crushed repeatedly, I let my querying peter out until I was only getting a lagging rejection perhaps once a month instead of once an hour. Revisions of the manuscript screamed obscenities at me, divulging perhaps the reasons for the rejections--the manuscript wasn't ready yet. An unready manuscript also equals an unready query letter. Curse them!

I haven't received a rejection in months and so the other day I decided to revise/rewrite my query letter again and send out another round of queries--more slowly this time. Last night I queried an agency exclusively and hope to get that rejection in the mail within a week or so...no wait, positive thinking is the key...get that offer of representation in the mail within a week or so.

Querying--what can I say? The anticipation is killing me. I'll post my most recent query letter here and if you would reject my precious RAGE on it, I'd love to know.

August 1, 2009

Dear Ms. XXXXX,

As my first choice agent, I am querying you exclusively given you interest in finding a great new voice in science fiction. Please consider my science fiction thriller 12th Dimension R.A.G.E.

A reverse-aged criminal from another dimension must remember her violent past if she is to save the future of Earth.

When young U.S. Army Specialist Kris Rose uncovers a plot to capture “Aliens” in the Sonoran desert, she unwittingly discovers the depth of her involvement going back to before she started her life on Earth. Having no recollection of her past life—a mass murderer from an alternate dimension of Earth—Rose must depend on her wits as well as her aggressive tendencies if she is to survive. With her good friend Corporal Devon Thurmond in tow, trying to save her from herself, Rose finds herself involved in one brutalizing mission after another in the noble pursuit of Earth’s continued existence.

Set in our modern world, 12th Dimension R.A.G.E. takes one step outside of reality, forcing Rose to explore her naturally dark nature in opposition to the moral person she would like to be. Her pleasantly cavalier voice and noncompliant attitude makes her strangely endearing. The unpredictability of the plot as well as deeply woven twists, create a distinctively commercial read.

My writing credits include nothing more than a nearly debilitating passion for writing. However, my experience as a Military Police officer as well as a Special Forces Counter-Intelligence Agent in the U.S. Army has provided me with the background necessary to bring authenticity to the military side of this work.

12th Dimension R.A.G.E. is complete at 78,500 words. I would be delighted to share the entire manuscript with you at your request.

Thank you for your time. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Sincerely,
Christauna Asay