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IT’S GETTING CLOSER… TRICK-OR-BOOK #4!

Foggy morning, chilly nights

5 pm, and on with the lights

Pillow and blanket in your cozy nook

4 more days till Trick-or-Book!

Are we really at the Fourth Annual Trick-or-Book already? Wasn’t it just yesterday the first day of school, just those lazy summer days, just the early-bird crocuses and tulips, just Valentine’s Day, just Christmas and Chanukah and Kwanzaa?

But already we slide and tiptoe again toward Halloween, planning costumes and decorating doorways, carving our best jack-o-lantern yet, jumping at the sound of early firecrackers, shivering at the ghostly voice emanating from behind the neighbours’ door, and of course preparing for the arrival of both beauties and beasts by stocking up on –

books?!

Well, at this address, yes indeed. Picture books. Adventures. Dog stories and tales of magic. Words silly and words serious. Sports heroes and princesses, orphans and talking animals; the Wild West and the Near East; things you could never have imagined; kids who are just like you…

No chocolate, not one piece of candy?

That’s right.

Just new worlds to discover.

Dive in now – hold tight!

Discover the history of Trick-or-Book here:

https://laughinginthelanguage.com/trick-or-book-is-almost-here/

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SHHH, IT’S THE… QUERY WHISPERER

OH, THE QUERY LETTER…

Has spellchecking ever worked its backwards black magic and corrected you into misspelled words and unintended meanings?

Is your plot summary still refusing to cooperate?

Are your characters not grabbing the agent by the hand?

What DOES that ideal literary agent want to see in your query, anyway?

And the bio… Oy, the bio!

~~~

Let me speak to your query letter—I’ll be firm but kind.

Having learned the long and hard way as a writer/translator/editor/proofreader for 20+ years,

I’m excited to now downsize my editing to…

QUERY CRITIQUES ONLY!

FAQs

  • Are you a bot?

I am not.

  • Will you rewrite my query?

No, but I will thoroughly and thoughtfully guide your revisions in a 1-page critique or using Track Changes.

  • What’s your turn-around time?

Often same-day. Depending on workload, at most 3 days.

  • What does it cost?

– 1 edit – $95.USD

– 1 edit + answers to 3 follow-up questions from you – $130.USD

– 1 edit + 1 review of your new draft – $175.US

  • More about you?

– https://laughinginthelanguage.com/

– https://linktr.ee/AnnelieseS

– https://www.facebook.com/aschultzauthor/

– www.linkedin.com/in/anneliese-schultz

  • How do I contact you?

– aschultz@mail.ubc.ca (state Query Critique Request in RE: line)

For more info, see my Query Whisperer page on this website – https://laughinginthelanguage.com/query-whisperer-for-writers-only/

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BOOKS, ON AUGUST MORNINGS, FALL FROM HEAVEN

There is a certain kind of magic that can only happen in the world of books…

Early August, warm day ~

My front door stands open all morning for the breeze.

No sound or sight of a delivery truck, but suddenly, as I turn the corner into the kitchen, I see a slim package lying in the unswept entry.

A book, though I haven’t ordered any.

Return address: TOR Books, NYC

Mailing label: Malmo, Sweden

And within: an uncorrected proof copy of “A Prayer for the Crown-Shy”, by Becky Chambers.

My mind circles and spins. This is the sequel to by far my favourite book so far this year: “A Psalm to the Wild-Built”.

But who/why/how?

I’m not on the author’s mailing list, didn’t rate the book on Goodreads, haven’t won any free-book contests.

In the book is a “Letter to Readers” in which Becky speaks of ”…wondering why hopeful stories are something we’re expected to grow out of, or no longer need.” “Hope,” she continues, “is a key ingredient in every book I’ve written, but I wanted to lean into that even further.”

“Same,” I whisper. My climate fiction, though not always the happiest of themes, is never eco-thriller— the inspiration, the foundation, the epigraph are all hope. In my Middle Grade novel, rude ghosts beset a diverse step-family MG, and it is hope that begets the listening that is finally the solution. Two children run away from the endless crises of the world in my just-completed adult literary novel. How could I have written this without placing them in the sheltering hands of the Maine Woods, without channeling the certain heart of the child?

I look down at “A Prayer for the Crown-Shy” as it sits, wholly unexpected and still inexplicable, but comfortable, truly beautiful, in my hands. Perhaps hope magnetizes hope?

   And books, on August mornings, fall from heaven…