Week 2

read 190 queries on Tuesday, 150 in the inbox, 40 in the mail. At first I made categories and kept track of why I was rejecting what, but that got tedious after the 5th query. So I'm sorry. But I guesstimate that I requested maybe 15. Or something.

One that really stuck out to me was a memoir by a pedophile and the query was basically like, "I WANT TO LET THE WORLD KNOW WHAT GOES ON INSIDE MY BRAIN." But see, the query was written just like that, so the manuscript probably had the same tone and...CAN YOU IMAGINE READING 49 CHAPTERS OF THIS. NO, I DIDN'T THINK SO. And anyway, if we wanted to get inside the mind of a pedophile, we would just read (drum roll please) Lolita, and I highly doubt his memoir can beat Lolita, which is undoubtedly the best novel written in the English language. Ok, so maybe not the best, but it's fourth best: Modern Library 100 Best Novels in the 20th Century. (Again with the Lolita?! Yes, I know. I can't write a single post without mentioning pedophilia. Apologies)

Other things I've noticed and cringed at in queries: Use of the word "fictitious" (i.e. "In my fictitious novel...") and even better, "fictitiously" (i.e. "I fictitiously portray John..."). Also, when queries mention how many chapters and pages the ms is (these numbers tell me nothing. Who knows what font, font size, & margins the ms has?).

In any case, I've been requesting more than I probably should. After reading so many, I'm just dying to find a good one so my standards drop and next thing you know, my inbox is full of okay mss. And then I find a query that makes me jump in my seat, and I remember how high my standards should've been all along. But I'm getting the hang of this assistant thing, I think. Hopefully.

That is all. I have a final tomorrow that I haven't studied for. I am strangely calm. Or, NUMB, if you will--heehee, the title of the awesome arc I'm reading at the moment, goodness I can't stop thinking about it. ANYWAY, now to cram an entire semester into a few sleepy hours...

Over & out,
Jude