Hoarders

So, yeah, I watch "Hoarders" on A&E.  It's a great way to give yourself a little extra incentive to do some spring (or fall) cleaning when you're not really geeked about it.

I mean, how can you look at this and not want to just do a quick vacuum job in the living room?

I was trying to come up with a post topic and the show just happened to come on. I thought there was no way I could link "Hoarders" to writing. . . but I did.

Bear with me, it makes sense, I swear.

The sickness of hoarding is where a person falls into the trap of not being able to let go of anything they own. It doesn't matter if it's broken, no good, out of date, or rotting. They're convinced it's worth something. They're positive they may need it at some point in the future and therefore they refuse to part with it. The end results are usually nice houses that are trashed into oblivion by the junk kept inside.

The moral of this story is NOT to let this happen to your manuscript! 

Sometimes we fall into the trap of not being able to properly edit our own stories because we're reluctant to throw away a single word we've written. If you've got a large word count and people are telling you it needs to be cut -- trust me, you can cut it.

Don't. Be. A. Word. Hoarder!!

Here's a terrific post I stumbled across when I was seriously editing my ms about to go to querying (for real this time) and it helped me recognize a lot of my own word hoarding. If you're looking for a way to tighten your writing even more give it a look-see.

Being a Word Hoarder is nothing to be ashamed of. Not doing something about it, is. Don't let your story end up looking like this.

This has been my public service announcement for the week.

That Which Does Not Kill Us ...

Yeah, yeah, yeah. I got another rejection letter today. So, out of four queries sent out so far, I've gotten a "no go" from two of them. In the general scheme of things this is perfectly on par for what a novice writer will go through, so I'm not taking it personal. Getting a "No" still stings, but I'm bouncing back pretty quickly. Especially, since I'm convinced that it is the query letter that is failing here and not my writing. It is possible that both agents have read my first chapter and decline based on that, but from all the info I've read thus far, it is more likely the case of a so-so query letter that isn't catching their attention. So, it's up to me to write one that makes them want to see more. Easier said than done. I guess it's kinda like a striptease routine ... you have to show just enough to make them want to see more, but not so much that all the thrill is gone. It's a balancing act, I tell ya. As for the rest of the night, I'm going to relax and watch "Hoarders" a little later on tonight. I have some straightening up to do, and there is nothing like watching an episode of that show to put you in the "spring cleaning" mood. Pride & Prejudice Update : I still don't know much more about Mr. Darcy, other than Lizzy cares for him even less since he suposedly did something not so nice to Mr. Wickham. She was, however, able to wiggle her way out of having to accept a marriage proposal from that clod, Mr. Collins. Whew! Baseball Update: 28 days til Opening Day!!