Want to make a writer shudder? Ask them if they’ve queried yet. Last year I led a workshop on The Great American Query Letter and the participants shuffled in with the reluctance (not to say dread) of women about to try on bathing suits in an open-corral fitting room.
A co-ed one.
But like a job interview, you can’t get around the query. You have to write it. Many times. Because your query won’t be good enough on your first, second, or third draft—this is an iterative process requiring many cranky hours. But if you’re gonna do it, do it right. You’d have to be a damn fool to spend years writing a book and then skimp on the
