Query Letter
For generations of authors, the query letter has been the biggest source of stress, frustration and desperation. It’s the largest emotional obstacle to getting traditionally published.
Why? Because so much is riding on it.
If you get it right and hit exactly the right tone to interest an editor, then you have a chance for the manuscript to be seen.
If you don’t get it right, your career as author is doomed.
(Or was doomed, because now we have indie publishing. Ahem.)
And of course, for a query letter, you have to reduce your awesome novel to a few paragraphs. Not an easy task at all. I’ve been there. It can get really painful.
Now, there are many websites and books around to teach you the how of writing a query letter. So I’m going to focus on the emotions around a query letter:
The fear. The hope. The expectations.
And the disappointment. The rejection.
All of this is can come up during the action of writing a query letter and sending it off. And that makes it a highly emotional and difficult task.
Except you can use EFT to reduce the emotional load, bring your rational, smart brain back on line and write a good query letter. Actually, you should.
Because high stress does a few things to your brain that make the task even harder: If you have a lot of adrenalin coursing in your blood, rational thinking gets a lot more difficult. Your brain actually shuts down parts of itself, because the focus is on fight, flight, or feigning death. Creativity goes away. (And digestion stops, healing stops, blood flow is diverted to muscles and your senses go hyper-aware so every sound is a distraction, but that’s secondary.)
How can you write a creative, funny, interesting query letter to an editor if you’re maxed out on adrenalin?
You can’t. Don’t even bother to try.
I’m inviting you here to try some tapping before sitting down to write your query letter. And if that doesn’t help, let me know. I can dig up what’s really bothering you and together we can reduce that block so writing your query letter becomes much easier.
Anyway, here are some tapping phrases to try. (You’ll find a full tapping round to go with them in my newsletter. And a guide video under Free Stuff.)
Even though my entire writing career depends on this query letter, I’m totally okay the way I am, and I now give myself permission to calm down and get creative in a good way.
Even though so much depends on this query letter and I’m really stressing out over it, I’m okay the way I am, and I choose to let go of all the expectations and focus on the simple act of writing it.
Even though everyone says that query letters are from hell, and they must be utterly horrible to write, I’m totally okay the way I am, and I now choose to tap into my wonderful creativity and write one that’s very much me and my book.
Your Turn:
How do you feel about writing a query letter?
What emotions come up when you think about it?
What happened while you were tapping?
And finally – what are you creating right now?
Please share in a comment.
Image Source: F. Moebius
PS: My newsletter contains a full tapping round to go with my blog posts, so it’ll be easier for you to get results. Sign up through the form on the upper right hand corner, and receive an introduction to EFT as a gift, find that specific tapping round plus occasional special offers. If you’re on a mobile and can’t see the sidebar, you can sign up through this link: Newsletter Sign-up.
