Actually, scratch the first part. Still haven't mastered the art of not worrying. Am thinking of turning it into an olympic sport.

But what I have learnt, since my first feeble forays into the whole querying business, is that a query letter can actually be a really useful tool. It can also be terrifying, grueling and really, really hard to get right (or, more often, all at once). And really, I'm not talking about the query letter you send out to agents. That's kind of a whole other ballpark...one where you're pitching your ball in complete darkness, hoping it hits someone in the face.

That metaphor got away from me a little there.

I'm talking about query letters as a tool for plotting. Because the harsh truth about query letters is that sometimes, a flawed query letter translates to a flawed manuscript. Sometimes they don't. But when every single re-write brings the same plot problems, or logical gaps or inconsistencies, maybe that's an issue that needs to be addressed in your manuscript, too. And trying to create a clear, cohesive plot in less than 300 words that's both easy to follow and sounds exciting can be a great way to know if you even have a clear, cohesive plot. God knows I've written query letters only to discover that nothing was actually happening, or no one struggled to achieve anything, or had any motivation. And it turned out to be not just my shoddy query-skills, but actual issues with my ideas.

So now every new book idea gets a mock-up query before I start writing it. This query doesn't need to be perfect, and I don't need to slave over every word or turn of phrase like I would with a 'for agents'-query. It's just for me. If I can't write a query with clear stakes and conflict I know my idea's not ready yet. By writing a query letter I'm forced to think about what makes my book special, and what distinguishes it from all the other books out there. Sometimes I realize I haven't found enough of a unique angle (really, brain? You're not creative enough for a road trip novel) and sometimes I get stuck trying to move past the premise stage. All this means I'm not ready to write the story yet. For me, writing a mock query has become a litmus test of figuring out whether a story is ready to be written.

Which is a longwinded way of saying that hey, new WIP, so glad we're gonna be hanging out together soon.