A bubble of joy...

...is what I kinda feel like I'm floating around in right now. Insert insane amount of smiley faces here.

Let me back up. So, remember I mentioned that website the other day, AgentQuery.com? Well I went back to it a few days ago to start researching more agents for my list. Instead of beginning my search right away, I looked around on the home page for a couple minutes and saw a little blurb that said "Join AQ Connect! Agent Query's social networking site!" Being that I'm self-admittedly addicted to Facebook, my curiosity was peaked. A social network for aspiring writers?? Heck yea I'll sign up!

So I did. Once signed up, I spent a while just going through all the forums. Holy moly, you guys. This site is kinda like a form of heaven for my non-published ass. They have forums all about the query process, where they show you guidelines for writing a good query & examples of good ones, there's a section here for posting any questions you have about writing a query or synopsis (I'll be viewing the synopsis one soon), and you can post your own query for critiquing. They also have forums about agents, publishing & networking, general writing questions, book clubs, etc, etc, etc. I've really only just begun to discover everything the site has to offer.

So. Yesterday I hemmed and hawed all morning, trying to decide if I should just bite the bullet and post my query. I'd polished it up to the best of my ability, but I knew it still needed work. I was totally at a loss as far as what else I could possibly add/remove/change. I figured I'd spend some more time just reading through other's queries and offering my weak suggestions wherever I could before I posted mine.

Finally I just said F it. I decided there was no time like the present, might as well go ahead and get it posted. I figure, hey, maybe some of the questions people have might open my eyes a bit about the story in general. Maybe there are some holes in it that I'm not seeing because I'm waaaay too close to it.

So I posted it. And I waited for a response. One came quickly- she said there were "intriguing elements" but she wanted more. She needed some further explanations on a few things and suggested I change a couple things, so, great. I thanked her for her input and promised I'd take her suggestions into consideration, which I totally am. The next responses took a while to come (I don't know, probably because people were like, at their jobs and actually working when I originally posted it at lunchtime yesterday). But they were worth the wait.

You guys...it turns out my story might have some real potential! I mean, I didn't get a huge slew of comments, but the few that did offer their critiques said things like "Loving this story", "definitely interested in this story", "intrigued by this story", etc. OMG OMG! You don't even know how good that makes me feel. I mean, my readers have told me they like it and stuff, but they're all my friends and family. And as much as I do believe they've been honest with me, and they've been totally helpful with the revision process, hearing things like this from complete strangers is different. I guess it sorta, I don't know, validates it for me a bit more. Or something.

You can read my query, and all the comments/suggestions I've gotten so far, at here. I'll be revising and posting a new version sometime today based on the feedback I received. I'd love to hear your comments, too. This kind of stuff is what keeps me going and makes me believe maybe I'm not so crazy to think I might actually have a shot at this.