I'd Rather Write A Query Than...

I moved recently. I managed to go two months without having to pay rent, and yet I'm still broke. It doesn't help that I keep avoiding hospital bills until they take me to collections agencies, so then I HAVE to pay them. Oops. (Turns out, knee surgery in November was a poor life decision.)

This means that I'm trying to pick up another job so that I won't have days off. (Time is money, honey) Baxter will be cranky, but he needs to see the Vet, and eat food, too.

With that said, I've been spending a lot of time filling out job applications. It turns out I hate them. It also turns out that while I thought I loathed query letters, I prefer them to job aps. Here's a list of reasons why query letters are better than the run of the mill fill in the blank job applications:

Supposed to symbolize writing vs real job stuff

*Job applications have you fill out basic information: name, soc number, birth date, high school, college, special skills. Query letters only ask what is important; contact info, this is my novel, this is my publishing background. Boom. Done.

*Job applications require references, phone numbers that are years old, old manager's names. Some even require previous living locations. Yea..I barely remember what I had for breakfast, you expect me to remember six months ago? Pass. Query letters involve character names. Maybe a conference name or two if applicable.

*Job applications are PAGES long. Query letter is a PAGE long.

*Job applications force you to BS your way though it, "I'm a people person! I love this, and this, and I think I'd be awesome at this job!" Query letters don't care. "My name is Lynne. I've been published in, and I've attended these conferences." I've heard of people getting agents without having anything published before. We're judged solely on our ability to convey emotion, verses our ability to convince managers that we're awesome.

*"Have you ever been fired from a job before?" Umm....no? *Darts eyes back and forth* "Why?" Umm.....shit. In a query letter, you don't mention how many times you've been rejected. Awesome.

*You can use the f-word in a query letter and still get a request. (I know this, because I've done this). You can't do that with a job application.

*If things go well, that query letter will get you more money than this minimum wage job will.

So, while I need a new job, I'd rather be spending time here, on my computer, working on query letters and submissions. Just sayin'