Really, truly... the last Query Revision (I hope)

I know I've posted SO many other query letters. But I really feel like this one is the last revision. And regardless if it is the "last" revision, it is undoubtedly the BEST revision thus far. Last night I had hubby help me "polish." Might I say that hubby is quite brutal when he edits. He has the sensitivity of a seldge hammer. I always have to mentally prepare myself before asking him for editiorial help. Even then, I still usually end up defensive.

BUT... I have to admit that despite my bruised ego, he DID add some invaluable advice, and we managed to pound out a really polished letter, which I think is going to work VERY well. (Fingers crossed).

Dear Agent:

I recently completed my first novel, Keepers of the Flame, the first in a trilogy to come.

In 2008, I graduated from Brigham Young University as a History Major. I am now a third year law student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Like George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, or Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, Keepers of the Flame explores the potential demise of a nation, as a few brave individuals struggle to right the wrongs of a power-hungry government. It follows the lives of the Halls, an influential government family, as they are torn apart by the political turmoil rippling through the U.S. government. At the heart of the conflict is Elias Clymer, an expert politician with powerful sway in Congress. Facing little resistance, Clymer and other congressmen scheme to overthrow the government; only a few are left to stand against him. Senator Thomas Hall is one such person.

Unbeknownst to Hall, the problem reaches into his own home. His oldest son, Marcus, is seeking to establish a place in Clymer’s new regime. Meanwhile, Hall’s other children, Ethan and Vanessa ("Essie"), join an underground movement set on restoring the values of freedom and liberty. In a desperate fight to stop Clymer’s plan, Ethan and Essie become entangled in an epic battle to save the country they love.

Because of the tumultuous political climate of our day, Keepers of the Flame will reach a large audience that surpasses the normal boundaries of genre. I especially hope to generate interest among the YA generation, whose increased political enthusiasm was highly influential in the 2008 presidential election.

Enclosed are the first three chapters for your review. The completed work is approximately 100,000 words. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to discussing this opportunity with you further.

Most Sincerely,

Julie Tuovi
December 2010 J.D. Candidate
University of Nebraska College of Law

Outloud Readings... ick!

This weekend I accompanied hubby on a business trip out west. We stayed with his parents and had a lovely little weekend visit! While we were there, despite my strong protests to the contrary, hubby and in laws decided to start reading my book out loud. I'm not sure why I rejected this activity so soundly... I suppose its for the same awkward, uncomfortable reason people don't like hearing their recorded voice played back to them. It just feels/sounds weird! And although I've read sections out loud to myself before (for editing purposes, etc.), I've never actually had someone sit down and read my book from page one just for enjoyment purposes.

I have to admit, that although I couldn't stop laughing awkwardly to myself for the first five minutes, after I realized they actually LIKED it, I started to enjoy it myself too. We ended up making it through a good 7 chapters! The rest of the weekend, my mother in law kept pestering us to read more, while my father in law kept trying to get hubby to divulge intricate future plot details to him. I was pleasantly surprised to get such a good reception on the first out loud read through!

On the way home, hubby and I hashed out more plot details on the plane. We came up with some really good stuff that got my mind reeling! I can't wait to get some of the ideas out on paper... and although he doesn't want me to, I'm probably going to have to dedicate the book to hubby. Without his support and willingness to hash out potential ideas with me, I fear that I would over-think the whole thing and it would be nothing more than a hot mess.

Many thanks to you, hubby! I sure love you!

I'm now looking forward to graduation in a month and a half or so... then I'll have much more time to devote to the book and publication process. I would so love to just sit and do nothing but book for a while, but a girl can only do so much while trying to study for the last semester of law school! You'll have to give me a pardon for slacking off on my book so much this semester. I vow to do better come January!

Yes, a Pity Party

When I started this blog I wanted to promise myself I wouldn't use it as an avenue for frequent pity parties... "oh woe is me" "I'm not published yet" "wha, wha, wha" I didn't want to be be one of those glum schmucks who complains about not getting her way and how "its so hard... blah, blah, blah." Cause, of course its going to be hard, right? Right. But since no one is currently following this blog anyway, and because I'm super stressed out right now, and damn it, because I HAVEN'T FREAKIN' COMPLAINED IN SO FREAKIN' LONG ITS RIDICULOUS, I'm going thoroughly enjoy eating this really-bad-for-me Nutter Butter bar right now and have a pity party.




[Pity Party Rant Content has been typed, screened, censored and deleted.]




I'm going to go eat another Nutter Butter.

Probably my Favorite Cover to Date

A modification of an older cover, but still probably my favorite one to date, hands down! What do you think?As a side note, my photo editing skills are obviously improving ( :

Big Gulps, eh?

My aunt (the amazing former New York City editor), is editing portions of my book right now. The other day, I got a facebook message from my uncle saying he had some material to send me and wanted to know my address. I gave it to him, delighted that I was finally going to get some feedback! It'd been so long since I'd heard from my aunt, that I thought she'd forgotten about me.

Not so.

My uncle informed me that it was his fault it was taking so long to get the material to me. He said he was supposed to send it earlier, but was "trying to spare me" a little longer. Apparently my aunt is a brutal editor. He said he gets walloped every time she edits his work.

Big gulps.

Yeah, maybe now not so much "delighted" that my stuff is being returned to me as "dreading". Is it too much to ask that she might have something GOOD to say about my work?? [Fingers tightly crossed]. Stay tuned.

Writer's Market

My aunt used to be a big-time editor in New York City. Unfortunately, it was so long ago that she doesn't have too many contacts left, and the contacts she does have are mostly for nonfiction books. However, she does have lots of good advice. Last time I saw her she suggested joining Writer's Market. Writer's Market is an online resource that you can subscribe to that will give you access to thousands of agents and publishers. It also helps you keep track of the submissions you've sent, gives helpful articles and updates on how to get published, write the best query letter, etc. Last year I bought this HUGE book of agents and publishers for 2009, but of course, print material gets outdated each year. I'm excited about Writer's Market because--as an online resource--gets updated frequently. I'm now in the process of updating my submission list. It'll be nice to have that kind of information all online instead of having to flip through my ratty notebook for all my agent information! Yay for technology!! Now to start all that work of sending out another wave of queries... oh the joy of rejection ( : haha.

Query Revamped

At the suggestion of Albert Strickland, I've significantly shortened my query. Although dear Professor Dooling suggested a long, extended 3 pg. query, Albert said it would be much better to shorten things, as agents and publishers are short on time and probably wouldn't read anything lengthy. I thought that sounded like pretty good advice, especially considering the advice came from one of Albert's "people" who is definitely "in the know." So acting on this advice, I've produced for you my most recent (hopefully) "eye-catching" query....

Dear Agent:

I recently completed my first novel, Keepers of the Flame, the first of three in a trilogy I hope to complete.

In 2008, I graduated from Brigham Young University as a History Major, where my capstone project was Colonial Women: Debunking the Myth of “Oppressed” and “Unrepresented.” I am now a third year law student at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln where I am President of the J. Rueben Clark Law Society.

Keepers of the Flame, is an intense political thriller. It follows the lives of the Halls, a powerful U.S. government family, as they are torn apart by politic turmoil rippling through the government. At the heart of the conflict is Elias Clymer, an expert politician with a powerful sway in Congress. Facing little resistance, Elias and other corrupt congressmen scheme to overthrow the United States government; only a few are willing to stand against him. Senator Thomas Hall is one such person. But despite Thomas Hall’s efforts to restore justice in Congress, his efforts are in vain.

Unbeknownst to Thomas, the problem is much closer to home. His oldest son, Marcus Hall, is seeking to establish a place in Elias's new regime. But Marcus’s siblings, Ethan and Vanessa ("Essie") Hall are fighting back. They seek to join a nation-wide, underground movement called the Constitutionalists, whose primary focus is to restore the fundamental values of freedom and liberty. Amidst mysterious deaths and suspicious rumors, the two siblings discover Elias's shocking plan to murder thousands of American lives. In a desperate fight to stop the plan, Ethan and Essie become involved in a fight that will change the very fabric of their lives forever. Like George Orwell’s Nineteen Eighty-Four, or Suzanne Collin’s The Hunger Games, Keepers of the Flame explores the potential demise of a nation, as a few brave individuals struggle to right the wrongs of a power-hungry government.

In our current political climate, Keepers of the Flame will appeal to a large audience. Unlike many political thrillers, this novel originates in what’s happening today in Washington D.C., where upheaval and scandal are all-too-familiar occurrences. My extensive background in history combined with my current legal education makes a powerfully lethal combination for a political thriller. With my ability to weave history and politics into an exhilarating storyline, Keepers of the Flame will reach past the normal boundaries of genre to every type of booklover.

Enclosed are the first three chapters for your review. The completed work is approximately 100,000 words. Thank you for your time and consideration. I look forward to discussing this opportunity with you further.


Most Sincerely,


Julie Tuovi
December 2010 J.D. Candidate
University of Nebraska College of Law

So... what do you think? Would you want to read this book?

Random tid bit

So I like to stress myself out. I do, really! But its not like I do it on purpose... no... its much more sneaky than that. What happens is I fool myself into thinking I can take on the world, Superman style. I basically try to do everything, I mean, life is a buffet baby and I load up my plate! You'd think I would have learned after high school--or college at the very least--that I can't do it all, but no, I still haven't quite got the message. So unfortunately, sometimes trying to find time to write can be difficult. Recently I have zealously guarded Thursday and Friday mornings as my "creative therapy." I don't have class until the afternoon, so I have a couple hours each morning of uninterrupted writing time! Its divine! The hustle and bustle of starting a new semester is finally starting to wind down, so I'm hoping to find more blocks of time to fill with book writing "stuff," but until then, I'm impatiently looking forward to tomorrow morning!!

S...m...r...a....t??

My sister said my new reading glasses made me look "smart," as in... like... I guess didn't look "smart" before. Soooo.... I decided, why not? I'll fool a few people on my book blog and change my picture. Maybe with my new smartie pants glasses I'll be able to fool everyone into thinking that I'm, well, "smart!" Haha!

My Lunch with Al

So I met with this author guy like a month ago for lunch. And you're probably wondering why I haven't posted anything about it yet... I wish I had some fabulous excuse to give about a book contract in the making and all my time being completely consumed with the demands of suddenly becoming an overnight celebrity... but you five people that read this blog already know me well enough to know that that is certainly NOT the case! Ha! Really all I've got for you in the way of excuses is the normal everyday: life got busy. School started... new classes, 18 credits, last semester of law school, preparing for the bar... on and on! I've just been so frantic trying to breathe lately that I haven't had any time to focus on any sort of book stuff. But as I'm starting to get into the groove of my new schedule, I finally find myself with a bit of time to give an update on a very enjoyable lunch I had with a Mr. Albert Strickland!

My first impression of "Al" was: what a sweet guy! ... and nothing changed during the course of lunch. Albert was nothing but smiles and niceness all from the moment he shook my hand to greet me until we walked out the door laughing. It was probably one of the most enjoyable lunches I had all summer! He talked and talked and asked me all sorts of questions about my book and my progress, gave advice on how to catch the attention of agents in my query letter, and told the most outrageous stories. He had an air of genuineness about him and was completely engagning and entertaining.

Albert has a book--his first novel--coming out sometime around Thanksgiving. Its being published through Random House. I've had the privilege to read a few of the chapters and must say it sounds fabulous! As soon as it comes out and I've had time to read it, I'll be certain to post a full review on my blog! Anyway, Albert's novel is sort of the reason that I was able to make contact with him in the first place. He was doing a piece of writing on the technology used in Oral Surgery offices when he met my dad. He interviewed him and was fascinated over the high-tech equipment my dad uses and eventually they got to talking about some of the other things Albert was working on. Surprisingly enough, Albert's book is somewhat of a government conspiracy novel too, and when my dad heard this he mentioned that I was writing a similar novel (although the time periods and story lines for our two books are completely different). Albert was delighted by the sound of my book and told my dad to have me send him some material. I did so and over lunch he was nothing but positive about my story line, the flow of my chapters and accuracy in implementing real life bits of history into the book. I asked him for advice on how to make it better and gave me a few spectacular things to add to my novel--little bits of sparkle to make my novel shine. He also suggested a few changes to my query letter and promised to send me a list of agents, publishers and editors in New York he thinks would be interested in my type of novel. He already sent some of my work to his "people" at Random House and said he'd let me know if they get back to him about it.

Needless to say it was a fabulous meeting that left me glowing for the rest of the weekend! I left with lots of excitement to get home and hit the ground running again on that road to publication. Everyone needs a good pick-me-up now and again, and I definitely found that in Albert Strickland!