brain vs. body

Well, I figured out why my brain had been on an anxious hamster wheel for the last day or so when the stomach cramps set in. Then I forgot to take an extra dose of ibuprofen before bed and woke up at 4 AM in agony. Uterus, why you do?

In other news, the bits of my brain that are still working are, of course, thinking about Steve Rogers. Specifically, Steve vs. the 24-hour news media, which would probably confuse and anger him on a number of levels. I'm pretty sure he would eventually agree to a half-hour PBS interview to get the press off his back, but I suspect it would have precisely the opposite effect.

Also, am starting to think about writing a sequel to Defenders. I have an opening line and a vague plot, and I *really* like the opening line: "My senior year of high school, I gave up on Wicca and started doing magic." But I don't know if I want to attempt something that long right now. We'll see.

Defenders query letter

So, I'm not sure how many of you were around when I wrote a YA novel at the end of 2010, but: I wrote a YA novel at the end of 2010! And I am currently taking another pass at it. This includes rewriting my query letter, which I was never very happy with. Here's the current version, and I'd love any commentary anyone can offer:

Leah Archer loves stories. Fantasy, sci-fi, historical fiction-- she gobbles down every book she can get her hands on, and is never so happy as when she’s in another world. And her favorite stories are about people who turn out to be special, who are chosen, who make a difference in the world.

But then Leah, her friends, and her bratty kid sister perform an accidental spell that summons an unconscious man in a golden crown to Leah’s suburban living room. Suddenly Leah finds that magic is real, that there’s another world bumping shoulders with her own-- and that there are such things as chosen, special people. Only she’s not one of them.

Her sister Leslie, on the other hand, is. Leah and Leslie travel to a strange and distant kingdom, trapped in a ten-year winter, to rescue Leah’s kidnapped friend. Along the way, Leah must learn to cope with not being the magical one. But she won’t settle for being a bit player in someone else’s story. She’s determined to find a way to make a difference, no matter what destiny has to say about it.

DEFENDERS OF THE CROWN is a completed 50,000-word young adult novel, featuring a genre-savvy protagonist thrown into a world of magic and danger where things never turn out the way she’s expecting.

eta: Aaaaaand new version(s) ( behind the cut: )

query: accomplished. synopsis: kind of shitty.

So I think I've got the query hammered out to my satisfaction. But a lot of agencies want a one-page synopsis, too, and that is proving to be trickier. Possibly because the book itself is hard to summarize. ( Here's what I've got: )