I know, it’s been roughly forever since my last update. I’ve been working quite hard on my novel(s), and I have a new query letter that’s almost ready to go out. I’ve also been working very hard at TMO, and have resumed my original role there as editor-in-chief.

It’s made for a very, very busy me, and updating my blog has was one area that suffered accordingly.

Querying

Some of you might remember that I queried my novel before, roughly two years ago. I’ve explained all that, but with the newly completed novel came the need for a new query letter. This time around I hunkered down for some help from the Query Letter Hell thread at the Absolute Write forums, and it was fucking brutal.

But thanks to the awesome folks there, I have a brand new query letter all ready to go. I hope to send it out in early September, starting with some of the agents I queried the first time around.

What am I waiting for, you might or might not be asking? Another writer—you’ll be hearing a lot more about her in the future—has been helping me with one last edit, and her help has been so amazing, I want to finish it before sending out a query. She’s really good at that last 0.5% stuff, and If I get a request, I want the absolute best version of my novel as possible to send out.

I’ll keep you updated.

Guitar Show

I went to a guitar show last week in San Rafael. There were some amazing guitars there, like this 1963 Gibson SG below. I lost a 1963 Gibson SG to a pawn shop more than 25 years ago, and I would have loved to buy this one. The one I “lost” was in terrible shape compared to this one, too, but the price…wow.

There were 20 or 30 guitars I would have loved to own, and another 200 I would have been lucky to own. Maybe after everyone and their brother falls in love with Mason, right? Because you will. Oh, you will.

In any event, I posted some more guitars to my Instagram account if you want to check them out.

Doctor Who

I recorded the new Doctor Who last night with Peter Capaldi as the 12th Doctor. I haven’t watched it yet, so no spoilers. Hopefully later today.

Cherokee Purple Tomatoes

Check out this gorgeous hunk of love, the one in the middle:

It’s called a Cherokee Purple, and it’s the best tomato I have ever had. If you’re reading this, and you know me well, you realize that’s not saying a whole lot, but holy smokes is it tasty. It’s an heirloom, that may or may not be something the Cherokee Indians grew once upon a time. But it is incredibly sweet and flavorful. The flesh is just as purple as the skin, and it looks kind of like a bruise. A big, delicious bruise.

A buddy of mine introduced me to them, and wow. Speaking of which, I took a few pics at the local farmer’s market where I picked up these beauties. There was so much wholesome goodness there, I was quite surprised when a force field didn’t slap down in front of me when I got within 100 feet of the place.