Query letters and self-publishing

  Do you know that feeling of the boat sinking and you being in a turbulent ocean? Yeah.
  It's not easy to find answers about self publishing but there are so many places to check into. What does one do? Send queries to the ones that sound good, and are not too expensive. What I figure out is that I don't have the resources to cover the expenses. That means having to be very picky.
 When that got too annoying to research I went back to finding agents to query and figuring out that letter. A web stumble put me where I could ask an actual agent to evaluate my letters. Evan was awesome and he didn't work on memoirs so no conflict. So far I had been getting the usual responses, automated or no thanks. It's hard to be insulted when they are simply not taking any new projects.

 Obviously his was no easy answer to find. One thing I have been picking up on thanks to my "Authorship university" is that while I might be thinking about which road to follow it is wise to continue on my path of querying. No matter what everyone does say something alike to the effect of this being a personal choice. Basically don't ask them who they worked with and what they thought. One little problem I have is I have only had web service for 6 months for the firs time ever so I have no idea the rules of social interaction. Right now just read some posts, post a question, and be glad someone bothers to answer.

 As the next few weeks passed I grew to hate the traditional route for my book. It's true life as it happened with all the details I could absolutely verify, or were personal only to us so you have no choice but to believe it! Nyah nyah! Self-pub is my way. So, do you think I went all out to figure out how and where and all that junk, NO! It's enough I figured out that much, but there is still a book being written. Don't ask the authors for contact ideas, but about how to write properly and they flow like a slough!

Especially editors! I meet Karen Conlin early into my incessant questioning and was glad I did. "Grammar Nazi" was a new term to me that her and a few others joked about, yet the information they were giving me in their joviality helped me catch mistakes I had made. Fixed those before they would find out!
 The way I figure it, I need to make this the best it can be even before I figure out what to do next. It's not like I didn't have the time being on disability and stuck in my apartment.

 Now I have another gift of my book for you who take the time to read this blog! Page2.

  As Phil and I went back to our duties I’m riding a new high. My workday is going to be smooooooth as silk no matter what. This is my third day on the job, my first on the floor, and not even two hours into it and I get to meet DREAMGIRL. I really thought she was something I conjured in my imagination. It turns out she is an actual live human named SHEILA KAY.

  The workday went very smoothly. Every chance I could find to be around Sheila got snatched up with a quickness that could snap bones. If her call light went on I ran to answer, when lunch came I hunted for her tray in the cart to deliver it for her. She asked for coffee at breakfast, she likes hers the same as I. When she drank she said it was “exactly perfect!” , and that everyone else resorted to bringing  sugar and cream packets.

Me getting her coffee that day was the first thing that really opened Sheila up to me. So for the rest of the day my cigarette breaks were timed by Sheila being outside already. I’m talking about looking out the windows of various patients rooms at the smoking area.

When 15:00 came and I had to clock out for the day….well...I would have happily worked double-shift to spend another 8 hours near Dreamgirl, but they didn’t need anyone so I had to leave. OH MAN did that suck. I wanted to take Sheila home with me. What would have happened if I had told her…she probably would have laughed and thought nothing about it.

  While driving back to Liz and Joe's house my brain was in a fog. There were moments I wasn’t sure if I was really awake. When I got to the house no one else was there so I broke out my pipe, packed it with bud and toked in celebration and to help process the days occurrences. Not every day does one get to meet a person they thought they made up in their twisted little mind. While sitting there with my pipe I got to wondering if Sheila would smoke pot or would I have to keep it to myself. She smokes cigs , so… maybe.

 The rest of the day I mostly wanted it to be the next workday so it would be time to go to work. Besides, going back gives me a chance to confirm Sheila still exists, I won’t be completely convinced until I see her again.

  After a mostly sleepless weekend I get up the next Monday anxious to go to work. This new job so far has been surreal, what will day 2 show me? So far at no time have I ever looked so forward to clock in for the day. Driving time was occupied with thoughts of  seeing Dreamgirl, being partially convinced Friday didn’t happen the way I think or maybe not at all. That brain fog stuck because the only thing I recall clearly is getting myself down the 300 hall to see if Sheilas name was on the right doorplate, and being well outside the solar system in the time it took between seeing her name and taking the next breath. As much as a euphoric moment I may be having there is a job I need to do no matter how I feel, so I went to it with some new strange kind of energy, which was useful for the trip back to Earth to rejoin my body. My conversations were of the task at hand, keeping certain thoughts to myself, of course. After all I don’t want to come across as crazy or stalkery, that aint me. I’m simply trying to figure out how to peak Sheilas interests, twang her romantic bone, make her heart melt, start obsessing about ME! OH Yeah baby. This new day brings my new assignment. I will be on the 200 hall with Wendy, and Joy & Lisa do the 300 hall. I will be busy myself because I am not accustomed to the patients completely. So what though, Wendy knows them and will be helpful, and it’s a lot faster for me to have her patient knowledge immediately handy. It saves the wasted time of my incessant questions!